The Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), a leading civil society organisation, on Thursday declared a “social boycott” of all Kuki-Zo MLAs who participated in the formation of the Y. Khemchand Singh-led Manipur government, which assumed charge on Wednesday evening, saying the decision would be enforced across all Kuki-Zo inhabited areas of the strife-hit state with immediate effect.
The boycott call came a day after several prominent Kuki-Zo civil society organisations, including the KZC, had warned the MLAs that they would be held responsible for any fallout arising from their decision to join the new dispensation, asserting that participation in the government would not “deliver peace, justice, or reconciliation” for the community that continues to demand a negotiated political settlement.
Khemchand was elected leader of the BJP legislature party on Tuesday at a meeting of party MLAs in New Delhi and was sworn in as chief minister on Wednesday evening at the Lok Bhavan in Imphal. Nemcha Kipgen, a woman Kuki-Zo MLA, was sworn in as deputy chief minister virtually from Delhi. Reports indicated that four of the seven Kuki-Zo BJP legislators attended the Delhi meeting.
Meanwhile, the Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights and the women’s wing of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum announced plans for a massive rally in Churachandpur against Kipgen and other legislators seen as aligning with the new government. The Kuki Students’ Organisation also staged a protest outside Manipur Bhavan in Delhi on Wednesday night over Kipgen’s participation in the administration.
A Delhi-based KSO leader said community members felt “angry, betrayed and anguished” at what they described as unilateral decisions taken without securing a written political assurance addressing long-standing demands for separate administrative arrangements and constitutional safeguards. Observers said the developments since Wednesday had deepened existing fault lines, noting that the ground situation remained fragile despite attempts at political normalisation.
The conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities erupted on May 3, 2023, leaving over 260 people dead and around 60,000 displaced, and triggering a sustained demand from Kuki-Zo groups for a separate administration under the Constitution.
Condemning the participation of Kuki-Zo MLAs in the government formation process, the KZC urged community members “not to cooperate or associate with them in any social, customary, or public matters” until they withdrew from the administration and reaffirmed the collective political position adopted earlier this year. The council said the legislators had “violated” a January 13 resolution adopted jointly by community bodies, MLAs and suspension of operations groups that had resolved against joining any government without a written political commitment from the Centre.
Churachandpur clash
Security forces and protesters clashed in Kuki-Zo majority Churachandpur when the latter tried to impose a shutdown on Thursday evening in protest against the role of a section of the Kuki-Zo MLAs in government formation.