Six Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs attend Manipur Assembly virtually: CM calls it positive step

Six MLAs belonging to the Kuki-Zo-Hmar community attended the Manipur Assembly’s budget session virtually on Monday, in a development seen as a step towards restoring normalcy in the violence-hit state. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh described their participation as a positive beginning towards easing tensions.

The legislators joined the p roceedings through video conferencing and were visible on television screens inside the Assembly hall. Their participation comes nearly two years after ethnic violence between the Meitei community in the valley districts and the Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribes in the hill districts erupted in May 2023, leaving the state deeply divided.

The violence led to a physical separation between the two communities, with Meiteis largely confined to the valley areas and the Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities residing in the surrounding hill districts. Since the clashes, members of both communities have largely avoided travelling through areas dominated by the other.

Following the outbreak of violence, 10 Kuki-Zo-Hmar legislators had demanded a separate administration and a political solution for their communities and had declined to participate in the Manipur government led by the then chief minister N Biren Singh.

Welcoming their participation in the Assembly session, Chief Minister Khemchand Singh said it marked an encouraging development. “Attendance of the Assembly session by the Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs is a positive step towards the normalisation of the current situation in the state ,” he said.

The MLAs who attended the session include Nemcha Kipgen, L M Khaute, Letzamang Haokip, Ngursanglur Sanate, Kimneo Haokip Hansing and Haokholet Kipgen. The community currently has nine representatives in the Assembly after BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte died in February at a private hospital in Gurugram after suffering serious injuries during a mob attack in Imphal in 2023.

Officials said the state government had made arrangements for the MLAs to participate through video conferencing from locations including Kangpokpi, Churachandpur, Guwahati and New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the state government’s 2026 budget has focused on rehabilitation of internally displaced people (IDPs), infrastructure development and welfare measures for victims of the violence, including financial assistance for around 3.5 lakh women affected by the conflict.