Kangvai

Kangvai is a village in the Churachandpur district of Manipur, India. It is on the bank of the Kangvai stream that flows down from the eastern slopes of the Thangjing Hill. It is also the headquarters of the Kangvai Subdivision in the Churachandpur district. In the 2011 census, Kangvai had a population of 939 people. According to many sources, the 2023–2024 Manipur violence began at Kangvai, causing most residents to abandon the village.

Geography


Kangvai is to the east of Thangjing Hill, one of the tallest peaks of the state, in Churachandpur district. The village stretches east-west from the foothills to the Tedim Road. The area near the Tedim Road is referred to as "Kangvai Bazar". It is about 1 km north of Torbung. Torbung is considered to be partly in the Bishnupur district, even though it is to the south of Kangvai. This results in a complex boundary between two districts. Immediately to the north of Kangvai is a village called Phugakchao Ikhai, which is considered to be in Bushnupur district.

Kangvai is on the bank of the Kangvai stream, which flows down from the Tangjing Hill and nominally drains into the Loktak Lake, but most of the water is used up for cultivation.

Kangvai is populated by a majority of Kuki tribal population, predominantly Vaiphei people. It is listed as a census village in the Churachandpur district, with a population of 939 in 2011. It is also the headquarters of the Kangvai Subdivision in the Churachandpur district, which includes 66 villages.

History
Kangvai is first seen mentioned during the Kuki Rebellion of 1917–1919 (also called Anglo-Kuki War). In the Kuki war preparations in December 1917, the chief of Ukha (on the western slopes of the Thangjing Hill) sent 12 Kukis to collect his mithuns from Kangvai. They are said to have been fired upon by British troops, an action that so enraged the Kangvai Kukis that they joined the Ukha Kukis in their rebellion. On 19 December, the combined Kukis raided the Manipur State forest toll station at Ithai, presumably for arms and for neutralising the state forces. On 25 December, the British Political Agent J. C. Higgins went with a force to the foothills of Thangjing Hill to punish the Ukha Kukis. The force was beaten back by sniper attacks and home-made leather cannons (pumpi). Subsequently, the British gathered larger forces to attack Ukha and burnt down the village.

According to Kuki sources, in 1941–1942, the Manipur State Darbar delineated the borders of the area known as "Haokip Reserved" (the northern part of the present-day Churachandpur district), originally established by its president William Alexander Cosgrave in 1907. The northern border of the reserve passed through Kangvai.

Christianity had an early start in Kangvai, with the Welsh missionary Watkin Roberts having established a Bible School there. When Roberts decided to shift the school to Sielmat, near Lamka, as well as to establish his headquarters there, the Vaipheis of Kangvai were peeved and disowned him. Nevertheless, the early adoption of Christianity helped the Vaipheis to get ahead in education. In 1968, Kaikhogin Vaiphei from Kangvai became the first Kuki to enter the Indian Foreign Service. The Vaiphei Students Association, called Zillai, is based in Kangvai, and celebrated its 75th anniversary (Platinum Jubilee) in 2014.

During World War II, the Tedim Road was laid by the British administration as part of its defence against Japanese invasion. The road-widening project in the Torbung area (between Oksonbung and Leisang) was contracted to Thawngzagin of Kangvai. The labourers were paid one and a half rupee as daily wages, which appears to have been exploitative. When the British withdrew from Tedim to Imphal, seven decisive battles were fought along the Tedim Road. All the villages within seven kilometre distance of the road were asked to be evacuated within two days. The villagers of Kangvai mostly went to southwest Manipur to stay with relatives or acquaintances. They originally planned to stay at Ukha Loikhai, on the western side of Thangjing Hill, but the village did not have enough food supplies to support them. Modern commentators notice that no refugee camps were set up anywhere in the vicinity, which must have caused considerable hardship.

Recent history
Being on the border of the valley district of Bishnupur and hill district of Churachandpur, Kangvai is often a site of dispute and contestation. Bandhs (shutdowns) and blockades are conducted here as well as at Torbung as a way of asserting the rights and privileges of the valley and hill communities.

The 2023–2024 Manipur violence between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo people is said to have started at Kangvai on 3 May 2023. On that day, between 11 am and 1 pm, Kukis held a protest march in the Churachandpur town against the Meitei demand for a Scheduled Tribe status. Kuki-Zo people from all parts of the district, including Kangvai, attended the march. The call for the march also generated a "counter response" by the Meitei according to the Union Home Ministry. Reports were received of a counter-blockade at Torbung, and a counter-agitation in the surrounding valley areas (such as the Kangvai village), where houses were attacked by Meitei mobs. The residents were seen fleeing their homes and gathering in the fields. Two dead bodies were found by the police in Kangvai sometime between 1:30 pm and 2:15 pm, indicating the first victims in the violence. According to Kukis, the police and commandos either stood aloof or sided with the attackers. The attackers moved back only after Kukis from neighbouring villages and towns came to confront them. But they came back around 8 pm after the police had left and burnt down more houses.
 * Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Manipur riots: The chilling methods in the madness, The Indian Express, 5 May 2023. . "The immediate spark for the violence was provided by the retaliatory destruction of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in Leisang and razing of Vaiphei houses in Kangvai village by Meitei mobs following the beating up of a Meitei driver whose tripper truck hit a bike and ran over a stock of water bottles kept for use by peaceful tribal protestors in Lamka on the same day."
 * Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Manipur riots: The chilling methods in the madness, The Indian Express, 5 May 2023. . "The immediate spark for the violence was provided by the retaliatory destruction of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in Leisang and razing of Vaiphei houses in Kangvai village by Meitei mobs following the beating up of a Meitei driver whose tripper truck hit a bike and ran over a stock of water bottles kept for use by peaceful tribal protestors in Lamka on the same day."
 * Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Manipur riots: The chilling methods in the madness, The Indian Express, 5 May 2023. . "The immediate spark for the violence was provided by the retaliatory destruction of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in Leisang and razing of Vaiphei houses in Kangvai village by Meitei mobs following the beating up of a Meitei driver whose tripper truck hit a bike and ran over a stock of water bottles kept for use by peaceful tribal protestors in Lamka on the same day."
 * Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Manipur riots: The chilling methods in the madness, The Indian Express, 5 May 2023. . "The immediate spark for the violence was provided by the retaliatory destruction of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in Leisang and razing of Vaiphei houses in Kangvai village by Meitei mobs following the beating up of a Meitei driver whose tripper truck hit a bike and ran over a stock of water bottles kept for use by peaceful tribal protestors in Lamka on the same day."
 * Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Manipur riots: The chilling methods in the madness, The Indian Express, 5 May 2023. . "The immediate spark for the violence was provided by the retaliatory destruction of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in Leisang and razing of Vaiphei houses in Kangvai village by Meitei mobs following the beating up of a Meitei driver whose tripper truck hit a bike and ran over a stock of water bottles kept for use by peaceful tribal protestors in Lamka on the same day."
 * Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Manipur riots: The chilling methods in the madness, The Indian Express, 5 May 2023. . "The immediate spark for the violence was provided by the retaliatory destruction of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in Leisang and razing of Vaiphei houses in Kangvai village by Meitei mobs following the beating up of a Meitei driver whose tripper truck hit a bike and ran over a stock of water bottles kept for use by peaceful tribal protestors in Lamka on the same day."
 * Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Manipur riots: The chilling methods in the madness, The Indian Express, 5 May 2023. . "The immediate spark for the violence was provided by the retaliatory destruction of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in Leisang and razing of Vaiphei houses in Kangvai village by Meitei mobs following the beating up of a Meitei driver whose tripper truck hit a bike and ran over a stock of water bottles kept for use by peaceful tribal protestors in Lamka on the same day."

The residents of Kangvai that fled on 3 May never returned to their homes. The area was apparently taken over by the Meiteis. Any vehicles coming from the Churachandpur side were checked by them. Kangvai thus became a transit point where human couriers sent by the officials from the two sides exchanged deliveries. Sometime in June, the central armed forces defined a buffer zone between Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts, which included the Kangvai village.

Kangvai Subdivision
During 2014–2015, the Government of Manipur created a Kangvai Subdivision in the Churachandpur district. The new subdivision includes 66 villages, which were previously under the Churachandpur Subdivision and the Henglep Subdivision. Initially, the Government planned to call the subdivision after the Thangjing Hill, using the Kuki spelling "Thangting" for it. The move was seen by the Meiteis as an attempt to rename their sacred hill, and led to protests. Eventually the government chose the neutral name