Explained: Who are the Tamils in Manipur?

Earlier last week, two Tamil men aged 27 and 35 were found dead in Myanmar’s Tamu. The men, P Mohan and M Iyarnar were residents of the border town of Moreh in Manipur.

According to reports, the Tamil men had crossed over into Tamu that morning and are believed to have been shot dead by a militia aligned with Myanmar’s ruling military junta.

“One of their friends had called them for a birthday party in Tamu. The incident took place in the town itself,” said K.B.S. Maniam, general secretary of Moreh Tamil Sangam, a body of Tamil traders in Manipur, as reported by ThePrint.

Who are the Tamils living on India’s border with Myanmar?

According to The Hindu, as the British East India Company in the 19th century was expanding its footprint in the subcontinent it also looked towards one of the most important trading centre’s in Asia, the Burmese city of Rangoon (now Yangon).

The East India Company took with them labourers and businessmen from Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Oriya and Punjabi communities.

The Tamils of Burma, which was later renamed Myanmar in 1989, were primarily into farming and trade.

Even though the British later left, the Indians stayed and became drivers of the Burmese economy.

After the Burmese Military Junta toppled the elected government in 1962 and the Enterprise Nationalisation Law was passed in 1963, life became overwhelmingly difficult for the Indian diaspora.

Under the new law all major industries, import-export trade, rice, banking, mining, teak and rubber were nationalised and the Indian government was asked to withdraw its people from their lands.

According to The Indian Express, the then Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had brought reluctant Indians home. Every ship carried around 1,800-2,000 refugees.

At first, the Burmese government allowed Indians to take whatever that belonged to them but when it realised a great amount of wealth was leaving the country, they imposed a cap of Rs 15 and one umbrella, The Indian Express reported.

Several families arrived in Moreh through the sea route, and some also trickled into India through the unfenced border.

According to The Indian Express, the Indian diaspora became the first settlers of Moreh, along with a handful of Kuki and Meitei families that had lived there since the 1940s. The Tamilians, however, outstripped every other community, with a population of 20,000 in the mid-60s.

Lives of Tamils in Moreh over the years

Despite being bereft of all wealth, the Tamil community started from the ground and became one of the most influential communities in the border town of Moreh.

It is today represented by a body called the Tamil Sangam, and it dominates a grid of lanes and timber, cement houses in the heart of Moreh. Little eateries serving up hot dosas, sambar vada and idli line these lanes.

With inputs from agencies

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