33 Mentions of 'Manipur' in 20 Minutes: PM Modi's Masterstroke Against Kuki Separatism

On September 13, 2025, as torrential rains battered Manipur’s rugged terrain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi descended into the heart of a state scarred by ethnic conflict, delivering a message that reverberated louder than the monsoon’s roar. Beyond the crowds and the symbolism, the real highlight—the real mic drop—was Modi's 20-minute speech in Churachandpur, where he uttered the word "Manipur" an astonishing 33 times. This wasn't just repetition for emphasis; it was a calculated move to reaffirm the state's indivisibility, leaving Kuki BJP MLAs like Paolienlal Haokip visibly frustrated. This visit wasn't about listening tours or quick fixes—it was a masterclass in nationalistic optics, and it hit its mark.

Braving treacherous roads for a 1.5-hour journey to Churachandpur—the epicenter of Kuki unrest—PM Modi didn’t just show up; he showed up with purpose. Eschewing the safety of a chopper, his convoy snaked through mud and mist, a vivid testament to his commitment to a state too long neglected. Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh hit the nail on the head, calling it a “rare show of affection” for Manipur’s people. 

PM Modi’s 20-minute speech in Churachandpur, where he invoked “Manipur” an astonishing 33 times—once every 36 seconds—was a verbal sledgehammer that shattered years of Kuki separatist efforts to erase the state’s unified identity. For a region battered by division, this was a clarion call for cohesion, a masterstroke that exposed the intentions of BJP MLAs like Paolienlal Haokip. 

Let's rewind to the context that made those 33 mentions so potent. Since the deadly clashes of May 3, 2023, Manipur has been a powder keg of ethnic tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities. Kuki leaders and civil society organizations have been pushing hard for a separate administration, even floating names like Kukiland, Zogam, or Lamka instead of Churachandpur—anything to distance themselves from the idea of a unified Manipur. 

In places like Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, the word "Manipur" has been scrubbed from public view: vehicles with Meitei or Manipur branding were vandalized, and remember that embarrassing MSRTC bus incident during the Sangai Festival, where "Manipur" was literally ordered off the signage? It's as if the state was being symbolically partitioned. Enter Modi, who, in his brief address, hammered "Manipur" and "Churachandpur" relentlessly, without a single nod to those separatist labels. For those 20 minutes, Kuki MLAs and CSO heads had no choice but to sit and absorb a lecture on shared history, culture, and a collective development path. It was schooling in the subtlest sense, and the frustration boiled over.

Since the 2023 violence, sparked by eviction of illegal encroachers from the reserve forest of Manipur and the war against poppy plantations,  Kuki leaders seized the chaos, amplifying calls for a separate administration or Union Territory, rechristening Churachandpur as “Lamka” and their broader turf as “Zogam” or “Kukiland.”

The word “Manipur” became a pariah in their strongholds—scrubbed from billboards, and shunned in daily discourse as a symbol of Meetei hegemony. This wasn’t just rhetoric; it was a calculated campaign to partition the state, cloaked in grievances but aimed at severing ties with a unified Manipur. Against this backdrop, PM Modi’s speech was no mere address—it was a reclamation, a defiant reassertion of national integrity that hit separatists where it hurt.

Picture the scene in Churachandpur, a district where Kuki groups have openly flouted the state’s name, their CSOs like the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) rejecting even the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact for its nod to “territorial integrity.” Modi takes the stage, rain-soaked but resolute, and delivers a paean to “Manipur”—33 times, each utterance a stake in the ground. He speaks of its “courage and determination,” its hills’ “natural splendor”, "women of Manipur", mirroring the people’s grit, and pledges central muscle for roads, schools, and 7,000 homes for the displaced. No mention of “Lamka,” no nod to “Kukiland Or Zogam”—just “Manipur,” unbroken and indivisible. 

Then comes the kicker: “There is ‘Mani’ in the name of Manipur. It is that ‘Mani’ which is going to make the entire Northeast shine.” The Sanskrit “Mani” (jewel) isn’t just poetic flourish; it’s a pointed jab, warning that fracturing the state dims India’s northeastern crown. For Meeteis, whose identity has been vilified and erased in Kuki-dominated pockets, this was vindication—a leader chanting their state’s name like a mantra, cementing Churachandpur as Manipur’s beating heart, not some separatist enclave. The brilliance lies in its simplicity: words as weapons, unity as defiance.

Kuki MLA Paolienlal Haokip, predictably, cried foul. His social media salvo branded the visit a “wastage of public resources for optics,” lamenting that Modi didn’t spare “even 10 minutes” to hear the Kuki-Zo community’s “woes and aspirations.” He and his cohort—ten Kuki-Zo MLAs, including seven from the BJP—had penned a scathing memorandum demanding a “separate Union Territory with a Legislature,” claiming “ethnic persecution” had “cleansed” their kin from Imphal’s valley. His outrage, echoed by CSO leaders like Henlianthang Thanglet and Thangzamang of the Kuki-Zo Council, reflects a deeper grievance: they expected Modi to kneel, to validate their separatist aspirations with a nod to “Lamka” or a promise of autonomy. 

Instead, they got a lecture on shared destiny, a refusal to entertain their vision of a fractured Manipur. Paolienlal's boycott threat—shunning future “meet and greets” until Modi listens—smacks of political theater, a tantrum from leaders who’ve spent years stoking division while cloaking it in victimhood. The Kuki-Zo Council’s pre-submitted memo, begging for a “lasting political solution,” was ignored not out of callousness but conviction: Modi’s mission was to heal, not halve, the state. Supporting his voice of dissent was Congress leader, Dr. Lamtingthang Haokip who piled on via X, bemoaning the lack of a “healing touch” or “justice,” but their critiques miss the forest for the trees. PM Modi’s visit wasn’t about placating Kuki separatists; it was about fortifying a United Manipur! 

The genius of Modi’s approach lies in its layered strategy, and nowhere was this clearer than in Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s bombshell directive, delivered in Churachandpur’s charged air: “We cannot allow our land to be encroached by people from beyond the borders.” With the weight of the center behind him, Bhalla vowed “firm measures” against illegal settlements—a direct shot at the alleged influx of Chin and Kuki kin from Myanmar, a porous border bleeding demographic shifts that has been blaming for encroaching state reserve forests and large scale poppy plantations which led to violence in 2023. For years, Kuki leaders have dodged accountability, framing their cross-border ties as cultural kinship while ignoring how unchecked migration fuels resource wars and militia shadows.

Modi’s visit elevated this from Meetei whispers to national priority, aligning security with stability. Kukis cry prejudice, claiming it scapegoats their community, but the data speaks: untracked settlements, poppy cultivation, and arms flows have destabilized Manipur’s hills, emboldening separatist rhetoric. Governor Bhalla’s warning, delivered before leaders “allegedly facilitating” such encroachments, was a masterstroke of clarity: no more blind eyes, no more porous lines. This isn’t ethnic targeting; it’s sovereignty, a firewall against a crisis that threatens India’s northeastern frontier.

Then there’s the “bridge of trust” Modi championed, a call to suture the hill-valley divide that’s plagued Manipur since its 1949 merger into India. Article 371C, a colonial holdover, entrenches this schism, reserving 90%l percent of the state’s land for hill tribes while barring Meeteis—indigenous but non-ST—from equal access. Meetei leaders, from valley intellectuals to BJP stalwarts, have long demanded the crapping of this Act o unify Manipur’s administration and grant ST status to their community, leveling the playing field. 

Kukis, conversely, lean on 371C as a shield, fearing Meetei encroachment on their hills. Their push for a Union Territory isn’t dialogue—it’s defection, a bid to carve out a fiefdom that undermines Manipur’s soul. However, PM Modi’s speech, with its relentless “Manipur” refrain, rejected this outright, weaving a narrative of shared history and prosperity. His speech was ironclad: no balkanization, no surrender to separatist fantasies. For Meeteis, this was a lifeline; for Kukis, a line in the sand they misread as indifference.

Amid the political posturing, the human dimension of the crisis took center stage through Modi's interactions with internally displaced persons (IDPs). Though belated—arriving over two years after the initial flare-up—these engagements offered a glimmer of hope. In Churachandpur and at Kangla Fort in Imphal, Modi met with representatives of displaced communities, listening to their harrowing tales. One standout moment involved Samananda, an IDP from the border town of Moreh, who presented a list of demands including urgent rehabilitation, security assurances, and economic support for affected families. 

These interactions highlights the raw suffering: homes reduced to ashes, families scattered across makeshift camps, and lives irreparably altered by loss. As outsiders peering in from the comfort of distant fences, we have no right to adjudicate the sufficiency of these moments—that judgment rests with those who've endured the unimaginable. Yet, reports of satisfaction and nascent trust among IDP delegates are encouraging. 

Yet, beneath the surface jubilation lies a pressing dilemma: Will the Meetei community transcend their internal divisions to safeguard Manipur's unity? Plagued by petty political rivalries, factionalism within parties, and short-term power plays, Meeteis have at times inadvertently bolstered separatist arguments through inconsistent policies. 

Kuki leaders, in contrast, present a more unified front in their advocacy for separate administration or Union Territory status, amplifying their demands through coordinated CSOs and memorandums. Meetei legislators, meanwhile, oscillate between conciliatory "carrots" like dialogue offers and punitive "sticks" such as security operations. Modi's visit sent unambiguous signals—a Manipur undivided, resilient against external threats, and poised for collective prosperity. 

It's incumbent upon Meetei leaders to heed this, consolidating ranks to counter fragmentation forces. Unity here isn't a platitude; it's a strategic imperative for survival in a region where ethnic balkanization could unravel the Northeast's delicate equilibrium. 

All said, Modi's visit nailed its core objective. Those 33 mentions of "Manipur" weren't fluff; they were a deliberate stake in the ground for territorial integrity. While Kuki frustrations are valid, the bigger win was rekindling a sense of wholeness in a state on the brink. The anti-infiltration stance, IDP engagements, and massive public response all add up to momentum for peace. As Manipur inches toward recovery, let's hope this sparks genuine dialogue. The people—across communities—have suffered enough. With trust rebuilding, one rain-drenched rally at a time, a brighter dawn might just be on the horizon.