By Kimneihoi Haokip
Published on April 30, 2026
I believe a public mandate is a duty, not a decoration. Yet I watch Nemcha Kipgen continue as Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur while our Kuki people endure displacement, fear, and political denial since May 2023. To me, the contradiction is unbearable: a Kuki leader holds the state’s second-highest office, but the government she serves openly rejects our central demand for separate administration. In my view, when a post cannot protect lives or carry the people’s voice, it is a chain, not a shield.
I cannot see how the Deputy CM post of Nemcha Kipgen, or the ministerial posts of other Kuki MLAs, help our people when they remain tied to this Manipur popular government. I have heard too many in our camps say the same thing: their participation looks like endorsement of a government that rejects their demand for separate administration, failed to secure our villages, and failed to hold buffer zones. I see overcrowded relief camps. I see abandoned farmlands. And I do not see a single displaced family returned because we have ministers in Imphal. To me, representation that betrays the people’s demand is no representation at all.
Let me be clear about what I hear on the ground: we Kukis do not want protection under a Deputy CM post. We want only separate administration — a separate state or Union Territory under the Indian Constitution. We never demanded ministerial chairs. We demanded constitutional safeguards for our future. So I ask: how can any of us remain in a Cabinet that rejects our demand? To me, staying means putting office above our collective survival. No chair in Imphal can replace the constitutional security we are fighting for.
I also refuse to stay silent on another truth: freedom cannot survive under fear, no matter who wields it. I believe the control of the people of Kangpokpi through KNF militant rules violates both our rights and the Indian Constitution. Rights crushed by armed decree are no less violated than rights crushed by the state. For me, our struggle for separate administration is also a struggle for the rule of law. Our people should not be forced to choose between two forms of oppression. So I say it plainly: step down, stand with your people, and fight together for freedom — a freedom rooted in law, dignity, and the ballot, not the barrel of a gun.
I carry the weight of what we have lost. More than 250 Kuki innocents were killed. Over 250 villages and churches were burned down. I hear the cries of the victims, the grief of the bereaved, and the pain of Kuki women who were assaulted. I swear they will not be in vain. That is why I believe ministerial posts cannot be a settlement. Those posts did not stop the killings. They did not save our churches. They cannot erase this trauma. In my conviction, only a political solution — separate administration — can ensure this never happens again.
I know this: our people will not remain silent. Our movement will not stop until separate administration is achieved. Nemcha Kipgen, I say this to you as one of your own: your people are still waiting for you to step down as Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur. Withdraw from a government that rejects our demand. Reject also any authority that violates their constitutional rights. Stand with your people, not above them. The time to choose between the chair and the community has passed. History, and our children, will remember which side you stood on.
