Two Kuki-Zo MLAs sit in Imphal as their council asks for President's Rule

Two Kuki-Zo legislators walked into the Manipur Assembly in Imphal on Wednesday, the first time members of the community have sat in the House in person since ethnic violence began in May 2023. Saitu MLA Haokholet Kipgen, an independent, and Saikul MLA Kimneo Haokip Hangshing of the Kuki People's Alliance both represent seats in Kangpokpi district.

They arrived despite a direction from Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex Kuki body, telling all ten Kuki-Zo MLAs to stay away from the Imphal session until a separate administration is on the table. Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen, who is Kuki-Zo and BJP, attended virtually. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh called the physical presence a positive step toward unity and said his government would keep talking across communities.

The same day, the Kuki-Zo Council in New Delhi demanded a return to President's Rule. In a statement the council said the community feels "politically excluded" and "unsafe" under the present state government, and that it had felt safer when the Centre ran the state. "We had hoped that the change of government in Manipur would bring security and normalcy. Instead, attacks and killings continue," it said. "If the state government cannot protect its citizens, the Centre must act."

President's Rule was imposed on 13 February 2025 and lifted in early February 2026 when Khemchand Singh was sworn in. Nemcha Kipgen and Naga People's Front MLA Losii Dikho became deputy chief ministers. Three Kuki-Zo BJP MLAs, including Kipgen, L. M. Khaute and Ngursanglur Sanate, took part in government formation. Kuki groups had warned those MLAs they would be treated as acting in a personal capacity.

There are ten Kuki-Zo MLAs in the 60-member House, seven of them from the BJP. Since May 2023 most of them have stayed out of Imphal and joined sessions only on video, citing security. More than 260 people have been killed and thousands displaced in the Meitei-Kuki conflict. The council now also speaks of renewed clashes involving Nagas.

Wednesday's List of Business included a calling-attention motion on atrocities of the past two years: the abduction and killing of women and children in Jiribam, a bomb at Tronglaobi that killed two children, the killing of three Kuki church leaders at Saheibung, and an ambush on the Imphal-Tamei road that killed four Naga civilians. Another motion concerns a reported land-swap idea with Myanmar.

The split inside Kuki-Zo politics is now public. Two MLAs chose the floor of the House. The council and Kuki Inpi chose the demand for central rule and a Union Territory-style administration. The chief minister treated the two MLAs as proof that trust can return. The council treated the same week as proof that it cannot.

How New Delhi reads those two signals will decide whether Manipur stays under an elected cabinet or slides back toward Article 356. The MLAs who entered the chamber on Wednesday have made that choice harder to keep binary.