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A Thadou community leader and a Meitei community leader from Manipur have filed a joint affidavit to the President of India through the Governor of Manipur, seeking the disqualification of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Paolienlal Haokip (Saikot AC - an ST seat). The affidavit alleges that Mr. Haokip is not a citizen of India and that his tribe, “Any Kuki Tribe,” was not technically in the State’s Scheduled Tribes list at the time of his birth in 1974. The affidavit, filed by Thadou civil society leader T. Michael Haokip along with M. Bobby Meetei of the People’s Alliance for Peace and Progress, Manipur, further accuses Mr. Haokip of “engineering” the current ethnic conflict in the State because the erstwhile government under then Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had indicated its intent to remove “Any Kuki Tribe” from the list of Scheduled Tribes. Mr. Paolienlal Haokip has not yet responded to requests for comment from The Hindu on these allegations. The move comes against the backdrop of several Meitei civil society organisations blaming “illegal immigration of Kukis from Myanmar” for the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur, an argument also echoed by former Chief Minister Biren Singh. Mr. T. Michael Haokip and Mr. Meetei, in their affidavit submitted on September 25, sought Mr. Haokip’s disqualification as a legislator, annulment of his 2022 election to the Manipur Legislative Assembly, cancellation of his Indian identity documents such as Passport, Aadhaar, and PAN, and deportation to “his country of origin.” The affidavit alleges that Mr. Haokip’s name did not appear in Indian electoral rolls until 2021, when he was 46 years old, and claims that his father’s name does not appear in the rolls. It also claims that the names of other family members appeared only in 2021-2022. It further contends, “Interestingly, while Paolienlal Haokip is recorded as 46-years-old, his daughter is listed as 42, which reflects an impossible age gap of only four years between father and purported daughter.” Mr. Haokip and Mr. Meetei also challenge his Scheduled Tribe status as a member of the “Any Kuki Tribe (AKT),” arguing that in 1974, the year of his recorded birth, this entry was not part of Manipur’s ST list. The affidavit notes that the “Any Kuki Tribe” category was included until 1956, when the Government of India replaced it with recognition of individual communities under that classification. According to the affidavit, the entry was reintroduced in 2002-2003 on the recommendation of the then Congress government under Chief Minister O. Ibobi Singh. It argues, “Consequently, individuals like Paolienlal Haokip could only be born in the foreign country on 23rd June, 1974, during that interim period between 1956 and 2003, when the category of ‘Any Kuki Tribe’ was excluded from the Scheduled Tribe list of the State of Manipur.”
