Kuki Alliance Rejects former Manipur DGP's Hate Speech, demands response from NPP Central leadership

Kuki Alliance for Nampi Awakening (KANAM) has slammed Manipur Pradesh NPP President and former DGP Yumnam Joykumar Singh's hate speech against the Kukis, stating that "his remarks are not just offensive, also an open declaration of hostility against the Kuki-Zo people."

The group demanded an immediate response from the National People's Party. It asked, "Does the party endorse its Manipur president's hate-filled speech, or will it act and remove him from his position?"

"NPP's silence will be taken as complicity in the ongoing ethnic persecution of the Kuki-Zo people."

The Kukis group said his words are laced with the same arrogance and hatred that have fueled the ethnic cleansing campaign against our community.

"A former Director-General of Police turned failed politician, Joykumar now fancies himself an authority on citizenship, despite his own community's long history of harboring anti-India elements. The hypocrisy could not be more blatant."

"For decades, the Meitei ruling class has acted as though they alone have the right to decide who belongs in Manipur. This is the same group that has trampled on constitutional safeguards, suppressed tribal rights, and turned Manipur into a state of mob rule and ethnic terror. They have burned our homes, massacred our people, and displaced thousands yet now they dare to dictate where we should live? It is not the Kuki-Zo people who have turned Manipur into a lawless state-it is them," it said.

Alleging that Joykumar Singh has blood on his hands, Kuki Alliance stated that as the then DGP he was at the center of hundreds of fake encounters, earning infamy even among his own people. He was humiliated and stripped of his Finance Minister portfolio for his incompetence, yet he still dares to lecture the Kukis on constitutional rights, it stated. "A man with such a disgraceful record has no moral authority to speak about who belongs where. His words are not just reckless; they expose the Meitei establishment's true intention-not coexistence, but total subjugation," it said, adding that his attempt to push the tired, fabricated narrative that the Kuki-Zo people "belong to Myanmar only exposes his desperation.

It asserted that the Kuki-Zo people are indigenous to these lands, their history predates the modern state of Manipur. British records confirm the Kuki-Zos' presence in these hills long before Manipur even joined the Indian Union. "The Anglo-Kuki War (1917-1919) was fought to defend these lands-not in Myanmar, but in what is now Manipur. Meanwhile, it is Meitei insurgent groups, not the Kuki-Zo people, who have long maintained armed bases in Myanmar while attacking Indian security forces. If anyone's loyalties should be questioned, it is them," said Kuki Alliance.

Regarding blockage, the Kuki group rejected the claim of blocking National Highways by the Kukis. "The highways have always remained open for essential commodities and services. There has never been a blockade against civilians, nor against the supply of food, fuel, and medical aid. The only people denied access are armed Meitei militants who seek to burn Kuki villages, massacre our people, and parade our women naked in full view of the world," it said.

It, however, stated that until the government recovers the looted weapons and disarms the violent mobs that continue to terrorize thei people, free movement of a community that harbors violent insurgents and possesses more than 5,000 sophisticated weapons cannot, in good conscience, be allowed. "The safety of the Kuki-Zo people will always take precedence over the lies and political maneuvering of those who seek to annihilate us, it added.

Kuki Alliance for Nampi Awakening (KANAM) also accused that Manipur's leadership has already denied rights of the Kukis and continues to do everything in its power to coerce them into submission, that, it said, is no longer an option. The Kuki-Zo people refuse to live under a system that seeks to erase us. "We refuse to be governed by those who see us as outsiders in our own homeland."

Reiterating that "separation is not just necessary, it is inevitable," the Kuki Alliance stressed that the only path forward is one where they determine their own fate free from Meitei oppression.

"Let it be made absolutely clear. the Kuki-Zo people are here to stay. We do not take orders from failed politicians. We do not need permission to exist. No amount of threats, no amount of hate, will change that fact," it added.