Did Change Of Word Alter Manipur's Future? Row Over Gazette vs Assembly "Discrepancy"

Former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh has pointed out a discrepancy between a notification published in the Gazette of India and the state assembly's published rules on governance in Manipur's hill areas.

In a letter to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Wednesday, Mr Singh said the discrepancy - which he called "manipulated version" - has significant implications for the state.

"There appears to be a serious and potentially deliberate alteration in the text of the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972, as published in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. The original order, passed by the Parliament of India, was published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary. However, a careful comparison between the original Gazette notification and the manipulated version published by the State Assembly reveals a crucial discrepancy, potentially leading to significant implications for governance in Manipur's hill areas," the former chief minister said in the letter.

The discrepancy, Mr Singh pointed out, is in the difference between the wordings - "the appointment of succession of Chiefs or Headman", and, "the appointment or succession of Chief or Headman."

Mr Singh said the Gazette of India notification has the word "of", while the "manipulated version" published in the Manipur assembly rules has the word "or" - which significantly distorted the clause, leading to "profound administrative and political implications".

"This seemingly minor linguistic alteration constitutes a significant distortion with profound administrative and political implications. By substituting the word 'of' with 'or', the scope of the provision is broadened to potentially allow new appointments of chiefs or headmen, rather than merely governing traditional succession practices," Mr Singh said.

This change, whether intentional or inadvertent, has given rise to an environment where new villages can be declared and new village chiefs or a headman can be appointed without customary legitimacy or legal clarity, Mr Singh said in the letter to the Governor.

"It has in effect opened the door for a rapid and unchecked proliferation of villages, many of which may not have existed historically or traditionally. The consequences of such a shift are already being felt on the ground, where questions surrounding land ownership, ethnic settlement patterns, and village recognition are becoming increasingly complex and contested," the former chief minister said.

He asked the Governor to take immediate steps to look into this issue, and also requested for an independent investigation to find out how and when the wording in the assembly version was altered and under whose authority.

"It is equally important to conduct a comprehensive audit to ascertain how many villages have been declared after this adoption and how many new chiefs and headmen have been appointed under this modified provision," Mr Singh said.

CONSPIRACY TO DESTROY MANIPUR RUNS DEEP: ASSEMBLY CLAUSE ALTERED TO ALLOW ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW VILLAGES

I have written to the Hon'ble Governor of Manipur to draw attention to a serious issue. There seems to be a disturbing alteration between the original Gazette of India and the... pic.twitter.com/1JI36R9Gm4

— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) June 25, 2025

Manipur has been looking to scrap the chieftainship system to end the rule of village chiefs, who are the sole leaders of settlements and own entire villages, and pave the way for setting up a democratic way of rural governance.

The state in 1967 already passed a law to abolish hereditary chieftainship, and the then President had also given assent to the bill the same year. What remained to be done was to operationalise the law with a notification mentioning the names of villages and other key details.

However, since the Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs' Rights) Act, 1967 has not been enforced till date, chieftains continued with their rights and set up villages as per their hereditary practices. After the British left, India passed the Zamindari Abolition Act, 1951, and ended the zamindari system, but in Manipur the Kuki tribes still practice it in the form of chieftainship. Even neighbouring Mizoram, where the tribes share ethnic ties with the Kuki and Chin people, had scrapped chieftainship.

"Manipur is the only state in the northeast where this Act isn't implemented. Even a state like Mizoram had implemented a similar act for abolishing chieftainship way back in 1954 when it was a part of Assam. (The) need of the hour is to implement this Act at the earliest date, which we are hopeful now," Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh said in March 2024.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The Meitei-Kuki ethnic clashes have killed over 260 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.