Guwahati/New Delhi:
BJP MLA and former Manipur minister Vungzagin Valte told NDTV the only path to peace in Manipur is autonomy for the Kuki, Zomi, and Hmar people with a Union Territory status.
After suffering crippling injuries in an attack by protesters in Imphal in May 2023, Mr Valte spent nearly two years in Delhi for treatment. He has not fully recovered, uses a wheelchair, and has difficulty speaking.
“I would like to thank the Ministry of Home Affairs for creating buffer zones to ease tension between hill and valley… I will not sit with Meiteis at the negotiation table,” Mr Valte told NDTV, sitting in a wheelchair.
The head injuries have left him unable to perform normal physical movements without some assistance. He cannot talk fast or loud.
Mr Valte’s signature appears in all joint statements issued by the 10 MLAs from the Kuki and Zomi tribes ever since they began demanding a separate administration in May 2023, following the breakout of ethnic clashes.
After reaching Manipur’s Churachandpur from Delhi, the BJP MLA’s comments to the media align with the demand the rest of the nine MLAs have made.
“If the Centre is involved [in talks] for separate administration, I will participate. This will help a lot. In future, Kuki, Zomi, Hmar issues will be settled permanently,” the three-time MLA said.
Mr Valte served as Tribal Affairs Minister and adviser to former chief minister N Biren Singh, before the chief minister resigned and the Centre imposed President’s rule in Manipur.
The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs including Mr Valte have been leading the call for a separate administration to be carved out of Manipur, along with nearly two dozen militant groups that have signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement, and civil groups such as the Churachandpur-based Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and the Kangpokpi-based Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), effectively bringing all of them – militants, politicians, and civil society – on the same stage. The Naga tribes are not part of these organisations.
While the Kuki leaders and their groups have pointed at the ethnic clashes as the reason why they escalated their demand from an autonomous council to a separate administration, or a Union Territory with an assembly, Meitei leaders have termed this claim a lie due to widely available evidence about the demand for ‘Kukiland’ going back many decades.
Meitei leaders have alleged the SoO groups have been working to strengthen themselves over the years by taking advantage of the ceasefire, until a time came to engineer a violent attack for a separate land.
There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominant valley. The ethnic clashes have killed over 260 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.
