Against the backdrop of a protest rally in Manipur’s Churachandpur on Friday, in which effigies of three Kuki-Zo MLAs were burned, one of the legislators has told The Indian Express that agreeing to join the government “does not mean we have surrendered” and there can be no peace without a government in place.
Ngursanglur Sanate, a BJP MLA representing the Tipaimukh constituency, is a leader from the Hmar tribe, one of the many small tribes that are clubbed together in an umbrella as Zo, Kuki-Zomi, Kuki-Zo, Kuki-Zo-Hmar, and so on, which have been in conflict with the Meitei community in Manipur.
He is one of the three BJP MLAs from the community – along with Churachandpur MLA L M Khaute and Kangpokpi MLA and new Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen – who participated in the formation of a new government in Manipur, led by Yumnam Khemchand Singh. Sanate and Khaute had accompanied Khemchand to stake claim to form a government and were present at the swearing-in of ministers in Imphal on Wednesday, marking the first time that any of the 10 MLAs from the community went to Imphal to engage in government processes since the ethnic conflict in the state broke out in May 2023.
Their participation was met with protests in Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts, with the Churachandpur-based Kuki-Zo Council declaring a social boycott against them and saying that participation in a “Meitei-dominated government” is a “betrayal of their own people”.