Guwahati (Assam) [India], February 6 (HBTV): Manipur witnessed fresh violence on Thursday as protesters clashed with security forces following the announcement of Nemcha Kipgen as the new Deputy Chief Minister of the state. Reports said around a dozen protesters were injured during clashes in Churachandpur.
The violence is believed to have stemmed from resentment within sections of the Kuki-Zo community over Kipgen, a Kuki-Zo MLA, agreeing to serve as Deputy Chief Minister in the reinstated NDA government led by Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh.
The Kuki Zo Council (KZC) has announced a social boycott of any legislator from the community who joins the state government. Separately, calls for shutdowns were issued in several hill areas.
Nemcha Kipgen, who took the oath of office on Wednesday via videoconferencing from Manipur Bhawan in Delhi, is one of two tribal representatives in the cabinet alongside Naga MLA Losii Dikho.
The KZC described Kipgen’s decision as ‘defiance of a collective mandate’ not to participate in the government until the Centre acknowledges the community’s long-standing demand for administrative separation from the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley.
The Joint Forum of Seven, described as a group of Kuki freedom fighters within Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauz, called for a total shutdown on Friday across Kuki-Zo-majority areas of the state. A protest rally has also been planned in Churachandpur.
In Kangpokpi district, roads strewn with burning tires signaled a return to unrest after a period of relative calm in the hill areas. The armed Kuki Liberation Army issued what it termed a ‘clear and final warning’, stating that any Kuki-Zo representative joining the government would be considered to have betrayed the community.
Adding to the confusion, Thadou Inpi Manipur took a contrasting position and congratulated Kipgen on what it called her ‘historic appointment as the first Thadou tribal’ to hold the post of Deputy Chief Minister. The organisation urged her to ‘fearlessly and unequivocally reject Kuki identity’ and dissociate herself from ‘separatist agendas’. It also claimed that Kipgen holds a Thadou tribe certificate and was elected from the Kangpokpi (general) constituency.
(Inputs from ToI)