Manipur peace requires community dialogue, not military force: Kiren Rijiju
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that the conflict in Manipur requires community-led dialogue rather than military intervention to achieve lasting peace. He attributed historical militancy in the Northeast to past government neglect and the humiliation of local communities.
Why it matters
This statement highlights a shift in the central government's approach to handling long-standing ethnic conflicts in the Northeast region.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday (September 27, 2026) said the warring communities in Manipur must talk to each other to ensure permanent peace in the troubled state, as the Centre cannot use the military to end the conflict, which has been going on intermittently for more than three years.
Addressing a conclave organised by the Assam-based Pratidin Media Network in New Delhi, Mr. Rijiju also said that “humiliation and insult” towards small communities by successive governments since Independence led to the formation of a large number of militant groups in the Northeast.
Sharing his own experience of facing humiliation at the hands of then-Union Home Minister S.B. Chavan in the 1990s – when he and other students went to meet him as part of a student delegation – Mr. Rijiju said Mr. Chavan even insulted then-Union Minister of state P.K. Thungon for accompanying the students, terming them “gunda” (rowdies).
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