Guwahati, May 3: In a powerful show of solidarity and protest, several Meitei organizations from Delhi marked the second anniversary of the 2023 Manipur ethnic violence with a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Saturday. From 2 PM to 5 PM, members of the Delhi Meitei Co-Ordinating Committee (DMCC), Manipur Students Association Delhi (MSAD), Manipur Innovative Youth Organisation Delhi (MAIYOND), and United Kakching Students (UNIKAS), supported by the Meitei Alliance, gathered to demand justice, accountability, and action from the Union government.
The protest commemorated the brutal attacks of May 3, 2023, when coordinated assaults by Kuki armed groups on Meitei villages across multiple districts—including Tourbung, Ekou, Moreh, and Churachandpur—left over 800 Meitei families homeless, more than 200 dead, and thousands displaced. A Meitei woman was gang raped, public institutions were destroyed, and entire communities were uprooted.
Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, Member of Parliament; Kh. Rinku, editor, Imphal Times; Sharon Lowen, classical Manipuri and Odissi dancer; Agnotos Theos, author and activist; Dr. Seram Rojesh, convenor, DMCC; Dr. Naorem BoBo, spokesperson, DMCC; Somenanda Khangchrakpam, President, MSAD; Yengkhom Gunchenba, MAIYOND and Heramani, Youth Wing, DMCC attended as the speakers in the programme.
In their speeches, the leaders called out the Central government’s continued failure to act decisively against Kuki militant groups, despite their alleged involvement in over 400 attacks on Meiteis in the past two years. They highlighted how the state’s response—creating buffer zones, separating communities, and maintaining a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with Kuki armed groups—has effectively institutionalized ethnic segregation.
DMCC convenor Dr Seram Rojesh stated, “Manipur is under siege. Over 30,000 Meiteis still languish in relief camps while illegal poppy cultivation and narco-terrorism thrive. This isn’t just a failure—this looks like complicity.”
The demonstrators demanded an immediate end to the SoO agreement with Kuki militants, the dismantling of artificial buffer zones, restoration of unrestricted movement across the state, return of all internally displaced persons—both Meiteis and Kukis—to their original homes and decisive crackdown on cross-border terrorism and illegal drug networks.
Speakers warned that by tolerating a narco-backed separatist movement, the Government risks turning Manipur into a “New Golden Triangle.” They questioned whose political interests are served by allowing violence and division to continue under the guise of security.
Since February 12, 2025, Manipur has been under President’s Rule, yet, protestors said, central intervention has failed to restore peace or accountability. They asserted that without urgent corrective action, India risks losing the trust of its Indigenous people in the Northeast.
In a joint press statement, DMCC, MSAD, MAIYOND, and UNIKAS called on the Union Government to act before it’s too late: “This is not just about Manipur. It’s about the idea of India—one that protects all its people, regardless of their ethnicity.”
