Two umbrella organisations of Kuki-Zo groups on Wednesday said that MLAs from the community “cannot and should not” participate in the formation of a government in Manipur, adding that the elected administration would neither restore normalcy nor heal social divisions.
They made the statement on a day when Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yumnam Khemchand Singh took oath as the chief minister of Manipur, ending the President’s Rule that had been in place for nearly a year.
The BJP’s Nemcha Kipgen, who belongs to the Kuki community, and Naga People’s Front MLA Losii Dikho, from the Naga community, were sworn in as deputy chief ministers.
The Kuki-Zo Council said on Wednesday that the community has been “forcibly and physically separated by the Meiteis” and has demanded a separate administration from the “Meitei government” in the form of a Union Territory with a legislature.
The council added that in a meeting on December 30, it had resolved that in view of the “unspeakable atrocities committed against the Kuki-Zo people and the enforced physical separation imposed by the Meiteis, the Kuki-Zo people cannot and shall not participate in the formation of the government of Manipur”.
The council said that any Kuki-Zo MLA who “chooses to disregard the collective decision” would be doing so in their individual capacity.
In a statement on Thursday, the council said that it “strongly and unequivocally” condemns the participation of the Kuki-Zo MLAs in the formation of the state government, which it said constituted a “gross violation” of the Lungthu Resolution on January 13.
During a meeting held on January 13, Kuki militant groups and MLAs from the community unanimously resolved to participate in the formation of a new government in Manipur only after getting a political commitment for a Union Territory in the Kuki-Zo-majority areas of the state.
While the Meiteis dominate the valley region, the Kukis are in the majority in the state’s hill districts.
The statement on Thursday added: “By joining the formation of a Meitei-dominated government, these MLAs have effectively aligned themselves with our enemy, thereby betraying their own people and disregarding the immense pain and sacrifices endured by the Kuku-Zo community.”
The council also declared a “social boycott” of these Kuki-Zo MLAs, urging people from the community to not “cooperate or associate with them in any social, customary, or public matters”.
It added that the boycott would remain in force until the legislators refrain from participation in the state government and “realign themselves with the collective position” of the community.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur had said on Wednesday that a new government in the state would be “nothing more than a Meitei-centric political arrangement” and would be incapable of delivering peace, justice or reconciliation.
The organisation said that the formation of a popular government at this juncture would be ill-advised and deeply provocative.
“It will neither restore normalcy nor heal the deep fractures created by the ongoing conflict,” it said. “Instead, it threatens to inflame further tensions and push the state towards greater instability.”
The Kuki Inpi Manipur said that any Kuki-Zo MLA who takes part in the government “must come clean before the public and explain why they have decided to join despite being bound by the Guwahati Conclave resolution adopted earlier [on January 13]”.
The organisation added that “in the event of the formation of such a government”, the Kuki Inpi Manipur “will be compelled to curtail all political activities of any political party in Kuki-Zo areas”.
Kipgen takes oath virtually
Kipgen, who on Wednesday became the first deputy chief minister from the Kuki-Zo community in the state, took oath virtually from the Manipur Bhavan in New Delhi, the Hindustan Times reported.
This came after Kuki groups objected to her joining the government led by Khemchand Singh, a Meitei leader.
In the Churachandpur district, security forces fortified the homes of two Kuki-Zo MLAs, LM Khaute and Ngursanglur Sanate, the Hindustan Times reported. The two did not take oath as ministers, but accompanied Khemchand Singh to Imphal to stake claim to form the government.
Manipur had been under President’s Rule since February 2025, when BJP leader N Biren Singh resigned as the chief minister. The six-month extension to the President’s Rule, approved by Parliament in August, was to end this month.
At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced since ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in May 2023. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.
Biren Singh had stepped down amid allegations from Kuki-Zomi-Hmar groups that his response to the violence had been partisan and that he had stoked majoritarianism.
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