Battered and bruised by ethnic cleansing, Manipur’s agony is manifold. Scuffled with grief, scarred by suspicion, and split between hills and valley, the State has lived through two years of silence and suffering. Many villages were gutted, thousands displaced and trust of the inhabitants were fractured. What once was a symphony of shared lives between Meiteis and Kukis turned into a grim chorus of fear. For two long years, Manipur waited — for justice, for recognition, for someone to stand before them and say: You are not forgotten.

On September 13, 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke that silence. His first visit to Manipur since the ethnic violence erupted was more than a political itinerary. It was a moment of healing. For the first time since the conflagration, the people saw their Prime Minister walk into the heart of their wounds, meet their displaced, and speak not through bureaucrats or Press notes but directly to them.

The symbolism was powerful. PM Modi did not confine himself to one side of the divide. He began his journey in Churachandpur, the Kuki-Zo dominated district from where the clashes started, where he sat with families in relief camps, comforted children, and accepted shawls and sketches offered with trembling, but hopeful hands. Later in Imphal, the Meitei heartland, he announced projects worth over Rs 7,000 crore for new houses for the displaced, public infrastructure, roads and women’s hostels. His very presence in both hills and valley was a message: peace cannot be partial, development cannot be selective.

The Prime........

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