Bridging Divides: Manipur Meitei MLA’s Go to to Kuki Villages

GUWAHATI

A Bharatiya Janata Get collectively (BJP) MLA has taken the 1st step in direction of bringing two conflict-scarred communities in Manipur nearer. Former Speaker Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who belongs to the majority Meitei group, visited two Kuki-Zo villages on Monday (December 8, 2025).

Former Speaker Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who belongs to the majority Meitei group, visited two Kuki-Zo villages on Monday (December 8, 2025). He turned the first political chief from each group to interrupt the ice since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur in May 2023, claiming larger than 260 lives.

Partitioned by the violence, the Meiteis and Kuki-Zos have not ventured into each other’s territories for larger than two years now.

Mr. Singh visited the Litan and Chassad villages in two Naga-dominated districts, Ukhrul and Kamjong, respectively. His go to, the first by a Manipur MLA to start people-to-people contact, is seen as a confidence-building measure inside the troubled State.

Apart from inquiring regarding the hardship confronted by the Kuki-Zo villages beforehand two-and-a-half years, the MLA interacted with the inmates of a Kuki discount camp on the Litan Sareikhong Baptist Church. These inmates had fled their properties inside the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley.

“With Christmas approaching, we should all the time pray for the return of peace inside the State,” Mr. Singh, moreover a martial arts expert, talked about. He knowledgeable the villagers that the return of peace have to be the primary focus of all communities. “Battle exists in every part of the world, however it should not be allowed to hinder a space’s progress and enchancment. No battle should forestall us from visiting each other’s villages,” he talked about.

“We, the elders, might need our variations, nevertheless we should all the time not allow this battle to impact the best way ahead for our youngsters,” Mr. Singh talked about.

State BJP Vice-President and Naga chief Hopingson Shimray appreciated Mr. Singh for mustering the braveness to develop into the first Meitei MLA to go to Kuki villages and step proper right into a Kuki discount camp “when everyone at current is reluctant to enterprise into one different group’s area”.

‘Uninvited stop’

Kuki organisations, nonetheless, criticised Mr. Singh for making an “uninvited stop” on the Litan Sareikhong Assist Camp after 9:30 a.m., when most inmates had left for work, “abandoning children, women, and the aged”. They talked about the MLA seized the possibility for a photo-op with “unsuspecting children sooner than departing quickly”.

“Later, and sadly, certain (Imphal) Valley-based media properties used this incident to advance the MLA’s personal pursuits and portray an impression that peace has been restored,” the Kuki Inpi Ukhrul, Kuki School college students’ Organisation (Ukhrul district), the Youth Membership of Litan Sareikhong, and the village authority talked about in a joint assertion.

They claimed Mr. Singh’s go to was twisted to “falsely advocate an interaction” between him and the camp residents. 

“We do not welcome such calculated and opportunistic actions aimed towards gaining visibility amidst the persevering with turmoil confronted by the oldsters of Manipur. We firmly distance ourselves from this episode and urge all leaders to behave responsibly, transparently, and with actual concern all through this delicate time,” the Kuki organisations talked about.

The ethnic violence displaced larger than 62,000 of us, every Meiteis and Kuki-Zos. Whatever the persevering with rehabilitation programme, larger than 55,000 of us proceed to dwell in discount camps.