Rows of tarpaulin shelters are tucked away from the main road, almost out of sight. Muddy narrow paths open into a settlement where women sit by the roadside stitching clothes, while men and young boys head out each day in search of odd jobs. Inside the shelters remain children with nowhere to go—no schools, no home, a generation staring at a bleak future. Three winters have passed in Churachandpur as families continue to wait for Manipur’s fractured communities to stitch their social fabric back together.
Since the ethnic clashes of May 2023, there had been no sustained presence of a fully functioning government, throwing both the hill districts and the valley in a limbo. When Mercy Vungthianmuang, a professor in Delhi, visited her in-laws’ home in Churachandpur for Christmas, the shroud of normalcy tore her heart—the harvest hymns were sung but not with joy, and bonfires that lit up across the state to ward off the chill only reminded her of burning down of homes. Her aunts are fighting a daily battle for survival in shelters. Even though the violence has receded, their way back home is still a dream. “This is what people don’t understand,” says Vungthianmuang, “the absence of violence does not mean peace.”
President’s rule has been lifted and an elected government is now in place. But fresh clashes erupted between the hill communities—Tangkhul Nagas and Kuki-Zomis—in Ukhrul, prompting internet services to be suspended. The reasons are ominously attached to the restoration of the elected government, which promises a political settlement based on inclusion and resolution of longstanding grievances of different ethnic groups.
The delicate task of converting political restoration into actual reconciliation now rests with the new chief minister—Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who belongs to the dominant Meitei community but is widely accepted as a liberal politician. He is the face of a carefully stitched government, with two deputy chief ministers—Nemcha Kipgen from the Kuki-Zomi community and Losii Dikho from the Naga community. While the move is being seen as ruling BJP’s attempt to reset its political messaging, Khemchand’s foremost challenge is to build trust and restart the peace negotiations.
“The burden on him is enormous,” says Sangmuan Hangsing, researcher and policy commentator. “He has to bridge the divide between the valley and the hills, while also reassuring people that the Centre is serious about course correction.”
However, the inclusion of Kuki-Zomi and Naga leaders in the government has raised difficult questions. First, giving political representation to one among the many closely related ethnic groups of the Kuki-Zomi community faces its own legitimacy challenges. Second, the participation of a Kuki-Zomi representative in the government stands at odds with their demand for Union territory status. Several groups, including insurgent groups in the hills, had said that they had no faith in the state government, subsequently leading to the resignation of then chief minister Biren Singh. “It will be very challenging for any Kuki-Zomi minister to be accepted by all sides,” says Hangsing. “The house is divided.”
On the other hand, while the presence of a Naga deputy chief minister has been highlighted as a gesture of balance, the move can cause unease within the hills—the recent clashes are proof. The Kuki-Zomis and the Nagas have been living side by side in the hills through the ethnic strife. “The predominant reason for their peaceful coexistence has been the neutral position taken by the Nagas so far,” says G. Gaingam, former president of the United Naga Council, who has been involved in backchannel talks between the Kuki-Zomi and Meiteis. “But that does not make Nagas lesser stakeholders in the region, especially when peace needs to be restored.’
In districts like Senapati, where the Naga population is dominant, residents still remember the dreadful clashes in 1992 over land ownership between Kukis and Nagas. This mixed social fabric in the hills is already under strain from the longest-running insurgency of the NSCN(IM) that has still not given up its demand for a greater Nagalim, consisting of Naga-dominated hill regions in Manipur. While the Centre has been holding negotiations with the Naga insurgent groups, there is a stalemate. “At such time, a parallel demand of a UT status for hills by the Kuki-Zomis can deepen instability, if not handled well,” says D.K. Pathak, former chairman of the ceasefire monitoring group.
For the Kuki-Zomi people, the worry is that any dilution of their UT demand can have repercussions in areas such as Churachandpur, where protests continue even after the formation of the new government. What can also become a sore point is the continued influence of the dominant Meitei community in governance, if concerns are left unaddressed.
Jagat Thoudam, former president of the All Manipur United Clubs’ Organisation, says Meitis cannot be seen as one among many communities in Manipur. “They formed the civilisational and administrative core from which Manipur took shape as a political entity,” he says. “The conflict will recur unless issues of land rights and ownership are resolved. Today it may be between two communities, tomorrow it can be between other communities.”
But the first steps have already been taken and the outcome will depend heavily on how realistically and transparently the government is able to engage the warring communities. “The approach must not be of divide and rule but genuine integration for long-lasting peace,” says Vungthianmuang.
The Union government, meanwhile, has got a buffer as local issues and restoring day-to-day activities become the responsibility of the elected government. The BJP, like other political parties in Manipur, needs to set its house in order before the assembly elections in 2027. Also, the Khemchand government is still finding its feet. “There is no problem in appointing ministers,” says Gaingam, “but the real problem is portfolio distribution. Without that, there is no administration.” Any delay in administrative work and lack of efficient handling can stall the process of rehabilitation, reconciliation and even security.
More important, only when the administration starts functioning smoothly can the peace talks move forward. In the last one year, several steps have been taken to negotiate peace, like signing of suspension of operations agreement with Kuki militant groups and disarming the civilian population in the hills and valley. The stage is now set for the next step to address the competing ethnic aspirations of the people. But it remains to be seen how ready Manipur is for a dialogue that goes beyond optics.