Paolienlal Haokip

Paolienlal Haokip
Member of the Manipur Legislative Assembly
In office
2022–2027
Preceded byT. N. Haokip
ConstituencySaikot
Personal details
Born (1974-06-23) June 23, 1974
NationalityIndian
PartyBharatiya Janata Party
EducationM.Phil, JNU, 1999[1]
OccupationLok Sabha Secretariat, social worker, politician

Paolienlal Haokip is an Indian politician from Manipur and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Haokip was first elected to the Manipur Legislative Assembly from Saikot constituency in Churachandpur District in the 2022 elections on a BJP ticket.[2]

Career

Paolienlal Haokip describes himself as coming from the "Hills in Manipur". He joined Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1995 to pursue MA in Politics with specialisation in International Studies.[3] He completed an M. Phil. in 1999.[1]

Between 2002 and 2003, he worked as a research officer in the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. Afterwards he joined the Lok Sabha Secretariat, where he worked in various positions till about 2020.[4][5]

Haokip returned to Manipur in 2020 and worked as a spokesperson of Kuki Inpi Manipur.[a] The Kuki-Zo community was at that time demanding a territorial council for the Kuki-Zo areas under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India.[7]

Manipur Legislative Assembly, 2022–2027

In February 2022, Haokip contested the Saikot seat for Manipur Legislative Assembly as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and won over his nearest rival by over 2,000 votes. The previous MLA, T. N. Haokip, came as a distant third.[8] Saikot is a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Haokip is said to have mentioned his tribal affiliation as "Any Kuki Tribes".[9]

In May 2022, Haokip became aware that the Manipur Forest Department issued "show-cause notices"[b] to village chiefs in the Dampi Reserved Forest in his constituency, and wrote to the Forest Department that no action should be taken until the matter is considered by the state's Hill Areas Committee.[10] He also wrote to the Minister for Forests, Thongam Biswajit Singh, reminding him about the procedures to be followed for declaring reserved forests as per the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and observed that they do not appear to have been followed in the case of the Dampi Reserve Forest.[11]

Haokip wrote to the minister Biswajit Singh again in April 2023, protesting the fresh surveys ordered in the Churachandpur-Khoupum Protected Forest. In this instance, the state government claimed to have nullified the settlement orders issued in the 1970s to villages embedded in the forest, ordering fresh surveys. Haokip asked how the state government could nullify the orders issued under law by the Assistant Settlement Officers, who were acting in the absence of a Forest Settlement Officer due to the government's failure to appoint one.[c] If the fresh surveys were needed because the government lacked survey records then he challenged how the original gazette declaring the Protected Forest could be valid in the first place.[12][13]

Haokip was counted as a dissenter in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party by this time, objecting to the evictions from reserved forests, and demanding a proper "settlement policy" for both the hills and the valley. He also objected to communities being demonised by the state government.[14] Some Meitei commentators regarded Haokip's defiance of the state government as a key factor behind the 2023–2025 Manipur violence.[15]

After the onset of the Manipur violence on 3 May 2023, the ten Kuki-Zo legislators of the Manipur Assembly, including Paolienlal Haokip, moved out of the Imphal Valley. One of the legislators Vungzagin Valte was brutally assaulted on the second day of the violence, causing all of them to feel unsafe.[16] They issued a statement on 12 May, calling for a separate administration for the Kuki-Zo areas. "As the state of Manipur has miserably failed to protect us, we seek from the Union of India a separate administration under the Constitution of India," read the statement. It said that living among the majority Meitei community was "as good as death for our people".[17][18]

In August 2023, the ten legislators, including Haokip, again submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the creation of posts of Chief Secretary and Director General of Police for the Kuki-Zo-inhabited hill districts. The signatories also asked for a sanction of Rs. 500 crore from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the relief of the Kuki-Zo victims.[19][20]

Haokip held the state government's anti-encroachment drive and the "dangerous narrative" about illegal immigrants to be the key factors behind the ethnic tensions.[21][22] He was also critical of the role of the chief minister N. Biren Singh, calling him "anti-Kuki" and "prejudiced".[23][24] As the violence continued unabated for over two years , Haokip's criticism of chief minister Biren Singh turned strident, with labels of "mad man, marauder and liar".[25] After the Manipur tapes came to light, purportedly containing comments made by Singh, Haokip wrote to the Union home minister Amit Shah, asking him to get the tapes investigated under the Supreme Court's watch.[26] Eventually, Singh resigned in February 2025 and the state of Manipur came under President's Rule, with the legislature put under suspended animation. Haokip called it "good riddance".[27]

In September 2025, BJP state unit spokesperson Michael Lamjathang Haokip,[d] in conjunction with a Meitei activist Mayanglam Bobby, questioned Paolienlal Haokip's Scheduled Tribe status, stating that Any Kuki Tribes was not a recognised Scheduled Tribe at the time of his birth. The two activists asked for the disqualification of Paolienlal Haokip from the state legislature. Paolienlal Haokip dismissed the allegations.[9]

Electoral history

  • Elected MLA from 59 Saikot(ST) A/C, 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly 2022.

Notes

  1. ^ Kuki Inpi Manipur is the apex body of the Kuki people in Manipur.[6] The term "Kuki" here might include only Thadou Kukis because the other tribes have their own apex bodies.
  2. ^ Notifications of impending evictions unless the villages could provide documentation of their rights over their land in the reserved forest.
  3. ^ The state government's claim was that settlement orders could only be issued by Forest Settlement Officers, not by Assistant Settlement Officers (who were of a junior rank). Hence the government claimed that all the original settlement orders were null and void.
  4. ^ A former leader of the Thadou Students Association, Lamjathang Haokip was appointed a spokesperson of BJP in 2022.[28] In November 2024, he was instrumental in the formation of an organisation called "Thadou Inpi Manipur",[29] which was however not recognised by the older Thadou Inpi General Headquarters.[30]

References

  1. ^ a b Manipur 2022: Paolienlal Haokip (Winner), myneta.info, 2022.
  2. ^ "Saikot Election Result 2022 LIVE: BJP's Paolienlal Haokip wins". CNBC TV18. 10 March 2022.
  3. ^ Haokip, Paolienlal (2011), "A Campus Tough to Leave", Souvenir 2010 (PDF), Jawaharlal Nehru University, pp. 43–44
  4. ^ Paolienlal Haokip, LinkedIn, retrieved 27 September 2025.
  5. ^ Non-Compliance by Department of Posts, Fifteenth Report, Lok Sabha Secretariat, 2020.
  6. ^ Bhatia, Bela (31 July 2010), "Justice Denied to Tribals in the Hill Districts of Manipur", Economic and Political Weekly, 45 (31): 43, JSTOR 20764362
  7. ^ Karishma Hasnat, Manipur's Kuki rebels demand Bodoland-like territorial council, unhappy about delays in talks, The Print, 29 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Six Congress MLA defeated, Ibobi accuses BJP of disrupting free and fair election in Manipur", Imphal Free Press, 10 March 2022. ProQuest 2638830169
  9. ^ a b PTI, Two Manipur leaders question Kuki MLA's ST status seek his disqualification, The Week, 27 September 2025.
  10. ^ MLA intervenes against show-cause notice over encroachment in Dampi reserved forest in Churachandpur, Imphal Free Press, 2 May 2022. ProQuest 2658498603
  11. ^ BJP MLA Paolienlal Haokip Slams BJYM's Attempt To Plant Trees On Thangjing Hill, The Frontier Manipur, 17 May 2022.
  12. ^ MLA asks government to stop surveys, seeks clarification, Imphal Free Press, 14 April 2023. ProQuest 2801266044
  13. ^ BJP MLA Questions Revenue, Forest Depts' Survey In Churachandpur-Khoupum Forest, The Frontier Manipur, 15 April 2023.
  14. ^ Phanjoubam Chingkheinganba, Manipur BJP govt in trouble? Dissidents camp in Delhi, Rediff News, 18 April 2023.
  15. ^ S. Bhubol, Some Facts on the Manipur Violence since 3rd May 2023; Towards balancing the opinions shared in media, Imphal Times, 1 July 2023.
  16. ^ Moushumi Das Gupta, Kuki-Meitei faultline in violence-hit Manipur triggers fears of ‘ethnic cleansing’, ThePrint, 19 May 2023.
  17. ^ Prabin Kalita, K. Sarojkumar Sharma, 10 tribal MLAs, 7 of them from BJP, of Manipur alliance slam CM Biren Singh on riots, The Times of India, 13 May 2023.
  18. ^ Vijaita Singh, Ten Kuki MLAs from Manipur demand 'separate administration', The Hindu, 12 May 2023.
  19. ^ 10 Kuki MLAs submit 9 point memorandum to PM Modi: Calls Imphal 'valley of death'; demands CS & DGP equivalent post for dists inhabited by Kuki-Zo tribals in Manipur, Ukhrul Times, 17 August 2023.
  20. ^ 'Imphal Out of Bounds for Kuki-Zos,' 10 MLAs Urge PM to Create DGP, Chief Secy Posts for Hills, The Wire, 17 August 2023.
  21. ^ Moushumi Das Gupta, 2 sides of Manipur clashes: Kukis blame Biren Singh's 'majoritarian' agenda', Meiteis fear 'demographic shift', The Print, 14 May 2023.
  22. ^ Gupta, Anant; Mehrotra, Karishma (26 May 2023). "India's northeast racked by ethnic unrest partly fueled by Myanmar crisis". Washington Post.
  23. ^ Rakhi Bose, Why Kuki-Meitei Conflict In Manipur Is More Than Just An Ethnic Clash, Outlook, 29 May 2023.
  24. ^ Karan Thapar, Manipur Violence Is Ethnic Cleansing, Biren Singh Anti-Kuki, He Must Go - BJP MLA Paolienlal Haokip, The Wire (via YouTube), 9 May 2023.
  25. ^ Karan Thapar, Biren Singh “Mad Man & Liar”; HM Protecting Him for Dishonourable Reasons; PM Has “Failed His Job”, The Wire, via YouTube, 19 November 2024.
  26. ^ Police Case Against Key ITLF Leader Ginza Vualzong Over Alleged Conspiracy To Start Manipur Violence, NDTV News, 6 September 2024.
  27. ^ Thomas Ngangom, Prawesh Lama, Manipur CM Biren Singh quits after 21 months of crisis, Hindustan Times, 10 February 2025.
  28. ^ Newly appointed BJP spokesperson Micheal Lamjathang Haokip honoured, Imphal Free Press, 14 September 2022. ProQuest 2714073542
  29. ^ Thadou Inpi Manipur formed at Thadou Convention, Imphal Free Press, 6 November 2024. ProQuest 3124285082
  30. ^ Abhinay Lakshman, Meitei, Thadou leaders meet in Delhi for ‘community understanding’, The Hindu, 7 March 2025.
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