A Movement Betrayed by Its Own Leaders
The dream of Separate Administration for the Kuki people is failing, not because the demand is unjust or unconstitutional, but because those who claim to lead it have completely betrayed the trust of the people. While thousands of ordinary Kuki villagers have lost their ancestral homes, properties and are now surviving in miserable relief camps without a future, the KNO, UPF and the Kuki MLAs have shamelessly turned the people’s sacred movement into a profitable business for their own personal survival and enrichment.
The Silence of Leaders When People Were Fighting
When the brave Kuki youth and village volunteers were fighting on the ground with bare hands for freedom, security and dignity against all odds, their so-called leaders were busy taking bribes from the Centre and the State Government in the name of endless political talks and fake settlements. Instead of standing courageously with the public voice and echoing the people’s demand for separation, they chose cowardly silence and shameful compromise. This is the bitter hard truth being openly discussed today in every village, every church and every relief camp.
File Photo: Kuki students protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, demanding Separate Administration Or Union Territory for the Kuki people
The Refusal to Resign is Proof of Betrayal
The refusal of the Kuki MLAs to resign from the Manipur Assembly remains the biggest and most undeniable proof of this deep betrayal. For the sake of monthly salary, ministerial berths, security cover and immense financial benefits, they refused to take a strong and principled political stand for their own people. A leader who cannot sacrifice his comfortable post and privileges when his own innocent people are being killed, raped and displaced has absolutely no moral right to lead the community anymore.
Leaders Disconnected from the Suffering Masses
These kinds of selfish leaders and MLAs have become truly disgusting and hated in the eyes of the common people. They shed crocodile tears and speak eloquently about the people’s cause in public meetings and on social media, but in private they are desperately bargaining for money, contracts and position with those in power. They have no real or emotional connection with the suffering of the masses; they are only busy day and night protecting their own bank balance, their families and their political future.
Why Delhi Is Not Taking Us Seriously
Because of this deeply corrupt, compromised and divided leadership, the Central Government in Delhi is also not taking our legitimate demand for Separate Administration seriously at all. Delhi knows very well that the leaders who come to the negotiation table to represent us can be easily managed, silenced and purchased with money, promises and posts. That is why, even after more than two years of immense and painful sacrifice by the people, there is still no concrete political roadmap, no timeline and no sincere commitment for Separate Administration.
The Need for a Leadership Revolution
Therefore, the Kuki community today urgently needs a complete change and a democratic revolution in its leadership structure. We do not need the old, tired and compromised SoO leaders and the self-serving MLAs anymore who have already sold our future. We need a new generation of young, educated, fearless and courageous leaders who emerge directly from the grassroots, who have personally lived through the pain of the camps and the firing line, and who cannot be bought by any amount of money or power.
File Photo: A proposed map of Kukiland comprising Kuki-dominated hill areas of Manipur, shown in green, as demanded by Kuki groups seeking Separate Administration / Union Territory for lasting political security and justice
The Danger of Multiple Identities
Along with new leadership, we also need absolute clarity and unity in our identity question which has confused us for decades. For too long, our community has been deliberately confused and divided by the use of multiple overlapping nomenclatures like Zo, Zomi, Manmasi and Kuki-Zo, which have created deep suspicion and doubt in the eyes of the nation and the media. Some of these names are unfortunately linked in the national public perception with the dangerous narratives of foreigners, refugees and illegal immigration, which has severely damaged and diluted our genuine case as an indigenous and constitutionally protected people of India.
Kuki: Our Only Constitutional Shield
The only practical and safe way to protect our future and secure our political destiny is to stand firmly, proudly and unitedly under the single, historic name of Kuki alone. Kuki is not a new, invented or doubtful identity created for politics. It is a constitutionally recognised Scheduled Tribe of India under Article 342, officially listed in 1956. It is documented, historically established since British times and legally protected. No one, not even our worst enemy, can brand us as outsiders or illegal immigrants when we stand firmly as Kuki.
Unity is Our Strongest Weapon
If we stand united as one Kuki nation, our political demand for Separate Administration becomes legally, constitutionally and politically much stronger and more legitimate in the eyes of Delhi and the world. Our long history, our official records, our blood sacrifice and our status as a Scheduled Tribe will become our biggest and sharpest weapon in Delhi for negotiation. But if we remain divided, confused and argumentative over names like Zo, Zomi, Manmasi and Kuki-Zo, our adversaries will cleverly use that very confusion and disunity to brand us as illegal foreigners and to permanently deny our rightful demand for freedom.
A Call for Reawakening
The time has come, and it is now or never, for the Kuki people to completely reject the old SoO agreement, the corrupt and failed leadership and the divisive politics of multiple identities. We need one sacred name, one clear political agenda and one new, honest and God-fearing leadership. The Kuki community must rise again and march forward as Kuki alone — for our freedom, for our ancestral land, and for the secure and dignified future of our next generation.
