Come February 28, when 38 out of 60 constituencies of Manipur go to polls, taking on big players like the BJP and the Congress will be the little-known KPA, formed by two retired bureaucrats, a practising doctor and a lawyer.
In June 2021, about 200 people gathered at a community hall in southwest Manipur’s Churachandpur, often referred to as the heartland of the state’s Kuki tribe. As people from Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal and other Kuki-dominated districts poured in, fiery speeches were made. At the end of the two-hour-long meeting, the Kuki People Alliance (KPA) was born.
Come February 28, when 38 out of 60 constituencies of Manipur go to polls, taking on big players like the BJP and the Congress will be the little-known KPA, formed by two retired bureaucrats, a practising doctor and a lawyer.
With the KPA contesting only two seats (Saikul in Kangpokpi district and Singhat in Churachandpur district), it is unlikely to have much of an impact on the results. But its formation is a significant development in Manipur’s political landscape, where tribal aspirations play a major role.
Says Gracy Lamkholhing, a 25-year-old Churachandpur-based teacher, who was at the meeting in Vegnom Hall that day: “A political platform for the Kukis was the need of the hour.”
Distinct from the Meitei-dominated valley, the hills of Manipur are home to two major tribal groups – the Nagas and Kuki-Zomi tribes. The latter falls under the larger ‘Zo’ ethnic umbrella, which has a presence in India, Myanmar and in Chittagong hill tracks of Bangladesh. Apart from the Kukis, smaller Zomi tribes, like Gangte, Kom, Mate, Paite, Simte, Tedim Chin, Zou and Vaiphei, also make up the diverse landscape of Churachandpur.
While the Naga movement is the country’s longest-running insurgency, underground Kuki groups, too, have fought the Indian government for an ‘independent Kuki homeland’, spread across Manipur.
Lamkholhing remembers that she first heard of this “homeland” when she was five, when a bomb went off near her home. Twenty years later, all the Kuki underground groups are in talks with the Centre. And, Lamkholhing feels, priorities have changed. “We need jobs, we need development, we need our voices to be heard. Without a political party, you can’t achieve anything.”
This article was originally published in The Indian Express in February 2022. Full article here.