Has the state really withered away in Manipur?

The general consensus among scholars, journalists, activists and many observers of the spiralling violence in Manipur is that the state has withered away there. Some argue that it has completely melted away or collapsed. It is easy to understand why some apply that framing in Manipur, where the state government has abjectly failed to rein in ethnic violence despite having the mandate and resources to do so.

But the framework of the “state withering away” is inadequate to understand the dynamic in Manipur today. The state has not vanished from Manipur. Instead, it has taken on a different shape: from an entity governed by a liberal social contract to one driven by an ethno-majoritarian consensus. In fact, even in spaces where the state appears to be missing, it is present in subtextual ways, quietly fuelling the ethnic strife.

In Manipur, at the moment, it is difficult to define what the state even means, for it has split into two distinct halves – the N Biren Singh government based in Imphal, and the Central government in New Delhi. While both are led by the same ruling party, their security apparatuses seem to be operating out of sync and are very often at...

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