Peace, at Gunpoint

Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Delhi: In February 2026, Bharatiya Janata Party stitched together another political arrangement between its 28 Meitei, six Kuki-Zo and two Naga MLAs to regain power in Manipur after a brief period of President’s rule.

A chief minister from the Meitei community, Yumnam Khemchand Singh, replaced the defiant N Biren Singh.

Nemcha Kipgen, a second-time BJP MLA and wife of the leader of a Kuki armed group, the Kuki National Front-President (KNF-P), was made a deputy chief minister; Losii Dikho from the Naga People’s Front, a BJP ally, was the other.

By then, the conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei armed groups, which began in May 2023, had ravaged Manipur’s social life and economy for more than three years despite one of the largest presences of state armed forces and intelligence anywhere in the country.