The Kuki people today are fighting a two-front war that no community in Independent India has been forced to fight. On one side is the Meitei majoritarian government in Imphal that engineered the ethnic cleansing of May 3, 2023, where over 250 Kukis were killed, 7,000 houses burnt, many Kuki women raped and paraded naked, and 50,000 displaced, without a single major arrest till date. On the other side is the Kacha-Naga vs Kuki conflict that is being weaponised by the BJP-led central government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not utter a word on Manipur in Parliament for three years, never visited the burnt Kuki villages, delayed sacking Biren Singh for months, and reduced President’s Rule to an eyewash. This silence is not neutrality but strategy. Delhi wants Kukis to get exhausted, divided, entangled with Nagas, and return to Imphal with folded hands.
This dead game is now visible in Saikul and Saitu. When two Kuki MLAs, Kimneo Haokip Hangshing and Haokholet Kipgen, attended the Manipur Assembly in Imphal on August 28, 2026 after three years, Delhi and Imphal celebrated it as return of peace and unity. But Kuki civil society including Kuki Inpi Manipur, Kuki Council, KSO and Kuki Human Rights Committee immediately called it what it is – total betrayal. KHRC rightly stated on September 3 that attending the Imphal Assembly without any political settlement is betrayal of the blood of martyrs. How can elected representatives sit in the same House that justified their people’s killing for three years, passed resolutions against separate administration, and still controls their police, funds and future? Delhi wanted the photo-op. Modi wanted to show the world that Manipur is normal and Kukis have accepted the Meitei-led government under Y Khemchand, while the Kuki demand for Union Territory with legislature under Article 239A remains pending and still continueing.
The first front, Kuki vs Meitei, is physical and open. Meitei radical groups operate with complicity of state police and central forces in the valley. Kuki villages in buffer zones are still attacked, IDPs cannot return to Imphal, and there is no justice for church burning, naked parades, rape and murder. The second front, Kacha-Naga vs Kuki, is more dangerous because it is internal, psychological and engineered. In Kangpokpi, Tamenglong, Noney, kamjong and Ukhrul borders, Kacha-Naga groups are encouraged to claim Kuki ancestral lands in the name of Naga integration, while Kuki villages in Saikul, Island, Tousem, ukhrul and Tamei are branded as encroachers. This tension is deliberately fuelled to break hill unity. When the Hill Areas Committee, a council of 20 tribal MLAs under Article 371C, meets, Naga MLAs speak of integration and Kuki MLAs speak of separate administration, while Delhi watches hill brothers quarrel and the valley retains power.
The tragedy is Delhi believes Kukis will forget and that Kuki and Naga will keep fighting each other. Modi’s game is built on dead bodies because dead bodies do not vote, dead houses do not demand compensation and dead churches do not seek rebuilding. For more than three years after May 2023, the Prime Minister gave no interview on Manipur, made no visit, and offered only a 36-second remark during the no-confidence motion. Kuki armed militants SoO talks have been kept pending for 17 years, Naga talks for ceasefire 27 years, and Kacha-Naga vs Kuki land disputes in ukhrul, kamjong, tamenglong and Kongpokpi are kept alive through forest surveys and census manipulation. When Kuki Inpi demanded separate administration, the Home Ministry responded with a committee, then a sub-committee, then talks about talks. Meanwhile Meitei MLAs received a free run in Imphal, central funds and a new Chief Minister. Now to project normalcy before the 2027 elections, Delhi is pushing Kuki MLAs to attend the Assembly, pushing Kuki Council to compromise and pushing KHRC to stay silent. But Kuki youth who buried their fathers in Kangpokpi and have lived in relief camps in Churachandpur for 40 months will not accept this game.
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The only way forward is unity. Kuki CSOs and Councils must remain united and reject any engagement with Imphal Assembly without written commitment on separate administration. The Hill Areas Committee cannot remain a council of 20 MLAs begging in Imphal. It must be empowered as an autonomous council with real financial and administrative power. The Kacha-Naga vs Kuki front must be resolved through recognition of ancestral lands and Kuki-Naga brotherhood dialogue, not through Delhi’s divide and rule. The Modi government must be told that Kuki patience is not weakness. We survived a two-front armed war from 2023 to 2026, we will survive this political two-front war with unity. The dead game will fail because Kuki are not dead. We are alive, we remember, and we will not return to the house that burnt our home.
The bloodiest proof of this second front is 2026 itself. Government of India-sponsored NSCN-IM and ZUF cadres have killed more than 26 Kuki civilians this year alone in Kangpokpi, Tamenglong and Jiribam borders, including two pregnant women and three pastors. In Phaitol, Saikul and Tousem, villagers were dragged from their homes and pastors were ambushed and killed on the way from Kangpokpi to Churachandpur. Pregnant women were not spared. These groups operate under ceasefire and SoO protection, enjoy immunity from Delhi, and attack Kuki villages with impunity while Assam Rifles and central forces watch as silent spectators. This is not a failure of law and order but state-sponsored killing designed to pressure Kuki to surrender the demand for separate administration. When Kuki village volunteers retaliate they are branded illegal, when NSCN-IM and ZUF kill civilians it is called a peace process.
The third weapon of Modi’s dead game is control. The central government controls Kuki armed groups under SoO through stipends, camp restrictions and monthly threats of funding cuts, so they cannot protect Kuki villages when Kacha-Naga and Meitei militants attack. In the same way it controls Kuki MLAs through money, investigation agencies and development fund traps. The message is blunt – you want an MMU ambulance for Saikul, you must come to Imphal and touch the Chief Minister’s feet; you want a road for Saitu, you must attend the Assembly and clap for unity. This is divide and rule within Kuki leadership and between Kuki leaders and the public. One Kuki MLA is made to fight another MLA, one CSO is made to fight another Council, one SoO group is made to fight another group. Delhi’s signal to Kuki leaders is clear – raise separate administration loudly and your funds will be stopped, your group blacklisted, your people made to suffer more.
The Modi government is openly selective and biased towards Meitei and Naga communities. For Meiteis there is uninterrupted flow of funds, a new Chief Minister, celebration of Assembly normalcy and immunity for the crimes of 2023. For Nagas there are 27 years of endless peace talks, Framework Agreement, five-star hotels in Delhi for NSCN-IM leaders and encouragement for Kacha-Naga claims over Kuki lands. For Kuki there are only relief camps, biometrics, eviction notices, SoO camp lockdowns and lectures on peace from Imphal. When Meitei mobs paraded Kuki women naked, Modi offered a 36-second apology. When Naga militants killed Kuki pastors in 2026, Modi maintained total silence. This selective justice proves one thing – Delhi does not want Kuki to get justice, Delhi wants Kuki to get tired. But history shows Kuki never tire when it comes to ancestral land, identity and separate administration.
