History has a strange way of repeating itself, a point that becomes increasingly apparent as communal riots spread across Manipur. Like most conventional riots that flared up occasionally in other parts of India, the state of Manipur has over time, prepared, activated, and sustained the institutional ecosystem for these riots. Paul Brass, the eminent political scientist on India, calls this an 'institutionalised riot system’.
There is, however, a subtle difference between these. Unlike other parts of India, the current riots in Manipur stem not from religious conflicts, but from the aggressive integrationist and coalescent attempts of the state and majoritarian-minded Meitei groups to assimilate tribals and dissolve extant intra-state constitutional asymmetry under Article 371C which seeks to protect tribal land rights and identities.