Manipur has “become a battle of narratives” over time and the battlelines in the state are “getting hardened”, according to army chief General Upendra Dwivedi.

Sharing his assessment of the ground situation in Manipur in an interview to the news website Firstpost, the army chief dismissed the claims on the use of drone bombs and the influx of 900 “anti-national elements” from Myanmar, an oblique reference to Kuki militants.

Gen. Dwivedi said: “In a lighter vein, ek ke saath ek free because Manipur was a problem and now you have the Myanmar problem also coming in. As far as the Manipur problem, if you see, in May 2023, it all started with a rumour — that there was an Anglo-Kuki War Centenary Gate which is being burnt. It was not being burnt. I have gone on ground and confirmed from everyone.”

“Now that rumour mongering led to major violence, which is still finding its kind of stabilisation phase which (it) has not reached. So what has happened over a period of time, it has become a battle of narratives. There is a polarisation between the communities. The situation may be stable today, but it is tense,”he added.

Stating that the number of internally displaced people, which had reached 60,000, has “now come down” to below 40,000, he dwelt on the society getting “weaponised tosome extent”.

“Why? Because weapons were looted (from police armouries in the hills and the valley). That also needs to be seen. The women-led organisations have come up for defensive purposes. The underground organisations have come up for defensive purposes. The battlelines aregetting hardened!”

“Therefore, what we have done as of now... as far as the army and Assam Rifles are concerned, we have deployed approximately 126 columns in conjunction with so many stakeholders which are already operating in the state. And we are trying to calm down the situation. We are trying to... restore the trust. It will take its own time because when the social cracks or social fracturing takes place, it takes (its) own time to recover,” Gen. Dwivedi said.

He said security forces had been able to recover approximately 25 per cent of the looted weapons and double the amount of locally made arms. About 6,000 arms were looted from the armouriesby mobs.