Manipur's elected government returns, but the killing and abductions go on

Summary

President's Rule in Manipur, imposed 13 February 2025, was revoked on 4 February 2026 when the Bharatiya Janata Party's Yumnam Khemchand Singh was sworn in as chief minister — so the state has an elected government again. The violence has not stopped. Alongside the Meitei-Kuki conflict, Kuki and Naga groups have clashed since February 2026; in mid-May armed groups abducted 40-plus people after an ambush that killed three church leaders, with only partial hostage exchanges since. Fresh shootings followed on 29 May (at least 5 dead, including a policeman) and 14 June (at least 11 shot, nine of them Meitei men). Cumulatively the conflict has killed 260-plus and displaced ~60,000 since May 2023. Amnesty International issued a June statement demanding the hostages' release. Narendra Modi visited neither during President's Rule nor since, a silence the opposition has repeatedly flagged.

By the numbers

• 13 Feb 2025 → 4 Feb 2026 — span of President's Rule, now lifted.
• 14 June 2026 — at least 11 shot (nine Meitei men), 14 injured; 29 May — at least 5 killed.
• 40+ — hostages taken in mid-May abductions; 3 church leaders killed in the ambush.
• 260+ — cumulative dead since May 2023; ~60,000 displaced.

Why it matters

Restoring an elected Bharatiya Janata Party government let Narendra Modi's party claim Manipur was back to normal, but the Kuki-Naga rupture and continued killings show the ethnic fracture is widening, not healing. A two-year conflict that the Prime Minister has still not visited remains the sharpest gap between the government's stability narrative and the ground.

What to watch

• Whether the Khemchand Singh government can hold or whether President's Rule returns.
• Resolution of the outstanding hostages still held after partial exchanges.
• Any shift in the Kuki-Naga clashes layered onto the Meitei-Kuki conflict.
• Whether Modi visits or the centre changes its security-first approach.