Finally, a CM for Manipur

Under the BJP’s peace formula, the state will have two deputy CMs, one from the Kuki-Zo community and one from the alliance partner, the Naga People’s Front.

After a year of political limbo when the state was under President’s rule, strife-torn Manipur has a chief minister again. The BJP has picked Meitei MLA, former minister and ex-speaker Yumnam Khemchand Singh to be the CM. He is known to be in the camp against former Chief Minister Biren Singh, and his name had been doing the rounds for some time.

Under the BJP’s peace formula, the state will have two deputy CMs, one from the Kuki-Zo community and one from the alliance partner, the Naga People’s Front. The BJP has also finalised the names of five ministers, including MLA Govindas Konthoujam, who is tipped to be the home minister and is considered close to Biren Singh. Manipur was placed under President’s rule in February last year amid ethnic tensions and rampant factionalism, though the BJP was in the majority.

Biren Singh had become extremely unpopular for his handling of the violence that ravaged the state for two years, and a section of party MLAs had threatened to quit and join the Congress. The party has 32 MLAs, including seven from the Kuki-Zo community in the 60-member assembly. After the 2022 Assembly elections, five Janata Dal (United) MLAs joined the BJP, taking its effective strength to 37. The Assembly also has six MLAs from Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party, which withdrew support for the BJP amidst the ethnic violence. However, the NPP continues to support the BJP at the Centre. The Kuki People’s Alliance, another former BJP ally, has two MLAs. The Congress has five legislators, and there are three independents. 

The BJP and the government at the Centre are faced with a fresh challenge as the party’s seven Kuki-Zo MLAs are firm that they get a written assurance for their demand for a Union territory with a legislature before the current Assembly’s tenure ends in 2027. The Meitei legislators, however, firmly oppose this demand for a separate Union territory. The unrest in Manipur that began in May 2023 over a High Court order asking the state to consider Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei community led to over 250 deaths and the displacement of nearly 60,000 people, plunging the state into an ethnic firestorm and causing an irrevocable rift between the largely Hindu Meitei community and the Christian-tribal Kukis.

The violence continued for months on end, and then chief minister Biren Singh was blamed for fuelling ethnic strife. The Centre was also held responsible for not stepping in to curb the unrest in a timely fashion and letting tensions fester. The Imphal valley is largely populated by the Meiteis, while the Kukis dominate the hills, and their strongholds have now become no-go areas for each other. Manipur is in sore need of a dose of peace.