{"id":6241,"date":"2025-12-08T15:45:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/?p=6241"},"modified":"2026-01-19T05:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T05:18:32","slug":"mla-yumnam-khemchand-visits-kuki-villages-in-the-hills-call-for-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/08\/mla-yumnam-khemchand-visits-kuki-villages-in-the-hills-call-for-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"MLA Yumnam Khemchand Visits Kuki Villages in the Hills, Call for Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a rare outreach effort since the ethnic violence that erupted in Manipur in May 2023, BJP MLA from Meitei Community and former Rural Development Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh<\/strong> visited two Kuki villages in the hill districts on Monday to build confidence and open channels of dialogue.<\/p>\n

Khemchand travelled to Litan, a small Kuki settlement in Ukhrul district, where he met local residents and asked about the challenges they have endured over the past two and a half years.<\/p>\n

The Meitei\u2013Kuki conflict has left a deep impact on Manipur, with more than 250 lives lost and thousands displaced. Over one lakh people continue to stay in relief camps across the state.<\/p>\n

During his visit, Khemchand stopped at a Kuki relief camp inside Litan Sareikhong Baptist Church, interacting with Kuki individuals who had fled their homes. He urged everyone to pray for peace as Christmas approaches, saying, \u201cWith the coming of Christmas, we all should pray for the return of peace in the state.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Khemchand, a sportsman-turned-politician and founder of the Assam Taekwondo Association, is also a former Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly.<\/p>\n

He comforted the villagers, stressing that restoring peace must be the shared goal of all communities. Addressing the 173 Kuki residents at the camp, he noted that while conflicts occur worldwide, they should not obstruct Manipur\u2019s progress. \u201cThere are conflicts among different countries, there are conflicts among different communities, across the world. But, we should learn to live in harmony despite the existing differences. There should not be any hindrance in visiting each other\u2019s villages,<\/strong><\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He further added, \u201cWe should not allow this conflict affect the future of our children. We, the elders, may have differences, but we should think about our children\u2019s future.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

During his tenure as Rural Development Minister, Khemchand secured a central package for the construction of 7,000 houses for internally displaced persons. He had also organised a relief camp for displaced Meitei families at Manipur College, Imphal, for over seven months, later helping them return to their homes in Serou and Sugunu.<\/p>\n

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State BJP Vice President and prominent Tangkhul Naga leader Hopingson Shimray, who accompanied Khemchand, described the visit as a noteworthy act at a time when most people hesitate to enter areas dominated by other communities. He noted that Khemchand is the first Meitei BJP MLA to step inside a Kuki relief camp.<\/p>\n

Another Tangkhul leader, Mark Luithing, former ADC chairman, called Khemchand\u2019s outreach the first real step toward rebuilding people-to-people contact since the violence of May 2023. He added that Khemchand also visited Chassad, another Kuki village in Kamjong district near the Myanmar border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a rare outreach effort since the ethnic violence that erupted in Manipur in May 2023, BJP MLA from Meitei Community and former Rural Development Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh visited … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33],"tags":[1767,1195,1171,1768,1769,115,208,1770,1771,1772],"class_list":["post-6241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inn","category-state","tag-ethnic-violence","tag-internally-displaced-persons","tag-kamjong-district","tag-kuki-villages","tag-litan-sareikhong-baptist-church","tag-manipur-conflict","tag-manipur-politics","tag-peace-outreach","tag-ukhrul-district","tag-yumnam-khemchand","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6241"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8265,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241\/revisions\/8265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}