Long Abstract
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Conflicts based on ethnicity have regularly caused considerable internal displacement of population in most of the Northeastern states (Bhaumik: 2005). The ongoing ethnic war in Manipur which has left thousands displaced, is yet another testimony to the historical, political, social and spatial marginalization, mainly of young indigenous people. In Kikon and Karlson’s book, Leaving the Land (2019), the authors underscore the political, social and economic transformation that has transpired in the region due to the increasing migration of indigenous youths to the Indian metropolises- for affective labor (service industry). However, migration within the states and outside the region due to ethnic conflict, although tremendous, is an under-researched area of work.
Those fleeing the ongoing persecution in Manipur have found refuge in India’s metropolis such as New Delhi, although marred with racialization towards the people of the region in various forms, the city also happens to provide alternative spaces for belonging and to some extent an intergenerational experience of belongingness.
Like the traumatic remnants of violence in Indian history such as 1984, or the NRC/CAA riots across the country, according to many, lies the danger of its memory being completely erased from the public sphere (Thungon:2018). Legal theorists, Austin Sarat and Thomas Kearns claim that a modern society’s most important technology is to preserve memory (2005: 12).
Thus, the study of memory through documentations of stories and testimonials from the displaced communities, and the treatment and commemoration of crime sites and human remains is absolutely critical. The hope of seeking peace, justice and reconciliation for those persecuted, alongside those left behind is often sought or attempted outside the region through subsidiary units of respective states’ community based organizations (CBOs), alongside various religious and student bodies in New Delhi, including like-minded people who become lifelong friends.
