Manipur Deputy CM Nemcha Kipgen switched off phone after Naga abductions: Deputy CM Losii Dikho

Continuing Naga-Kuki violence in the hill districts of Manipur will make it difficult to conduct elections for the State Assembly next year, Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho said on Thursday (September 3, 2026), indicating that Naga legislators may reconsider their support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government if their concerns are not addressed, including their demand for the removal of fellow Deputy CM Nemcha Kipgen.

Mr. Dikho is a member of the Naga People’s Front which is allied with the ruling BJP in Manipur, while Ms. Kipgen is a BJP MLA from the Kuki community. Chief Minister Khemchand Singh is from the Meitei community.

In an interview with The Hindu, Mr. Dikho said that Central security forces had been unable to prevent the attacks, noting that he had sent several SOS messages to the Director General of Police a day earlier, as Naga villages in Kangpokpi were surrounded by armed groups.

Mr. Dikho, who recently led a group of nine Naga MLAs in writing to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking Ms. Kipgen’s removal, said the current situation had become untenable and accused “Kuki militant groups” of carrying out attacks on Naga civilians. The Home Minister is yet to respond to their memorandum, he said.

“If it continues like this, election will be very difficult, especially in the hills,” Mr. Dikho said, adding that the legislators were prepared to take “extreme steps” if no action was taken on their representation to the Centre.

His remarks comes amid a renewed wave of violence between the Naga and Kuki communities over the past ten days. At least seven people from the two communities have been killed over the past week in Kangpokpi district, where they live in close proximity.

The incidents add another dimension to the ethnic violence that initially erupted in the State on May 3, 2023 between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo people.

Mr. Dikho alleged that the latest round of violence began after a Naga youth was assaulted in Ukhrul district on February 7 and subsequently escalated into a broader conflict. He said that six Nagas had been abducted and killed by cadres of the Kuki National Front (KNF-P), an insurgent group now under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with the Centre. Noting that the group is headed by Ms. Kipgen’s husband, Thangboi Kipgen, Mr. Dikho questioned her silence following the incident.

“We were given the responsibility of restoring peace after the popular government was reinstated. While efforts were being made to reach out to all communities, she did not engage with the affected people or play a role in reducing tensions. She refused to take calls after the Nagas were abducted [on May 13] and instead switched off her phone,” Mr. Dikho said.

The NPF leader said relations between him and Ms. Kipgen had broken down following the killings and claimed that she had been attending Cabinet meetings virtually.

While supporting the Chief Minister’s efforts to restore normalcy, Mr. Dikho said the new violence threatened to undermine recent peace initiatives. He also renewed criticism of the SoO arrangement, alleging that some militant groups were operating outside designated camps and continuing armed activities.

When asked about the reasons behind the ongoing Naga-Kuki conflict, Mr. Dikho attributed it to longstanding disputes over land ownership, demographic changes, and illegal immigration. Echoing demands raised by several Meitei groups and other civil society organisations, he supported the call to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before a full Census exercise is conducted in the State.

Asked why the presence of Central forces such as the Assam Rifles, CRPF and BSF had not been able to prevent the violence, Mr. Dikho said, “Some sections of people accuse some security people like Assam Rifles, I do not accept that. But for security people, as of now, the handicap is that they want to protect both sides — the Nagas and the Kukis. So in between there is a firing, so they cannot intervene easily... even to go to the remotest villages, to the terrain, there is no proper road.”

On allegations that the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) was arming and training Naga village volunteers, Mr. Dikho acknowledged that the group had provided some self-defence training to villagers amid the ongoing Naga-Kuki tensions, but denied knowledge of any arms supply. He argued that such training was intended to help Naga villages protect themselves in areas where residents felt vulnerable to militant attacks, adding that communities had resorted to self-defence because security forces were often unable to reach remote locations quickly.

The violence has additionally disrupted transportation and supplies, with Naga groups enforcing highway blockades and Kuki groups imposing restrictions in some areas. Mr. Dikho said civil society organisations remained reluctant to lift blockades because of continuing tensions and the absence of arrests in connection with recent killings.