NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Manipur on September 13 to launch and inaugurate development initiatives worth Rs 8,500 crore, officials told PTI on Thursday. It will be his first trip to the state since ethnic clashes between Kukis and Meiteis erupted in May 2023, claiming more than 260 lives and displacing thousands. According to officials, Modi will lay foundation stones for projects worth Rs 7,300 crore at Peace Ground in Churachandpur, a Kuki-majority area, and inaugurate infrastructure works totalling Rs 1,200 crore from Imphal, the Meitei-dominated capital.PM Modi’s expected itenaryPM Modi’s likely itinerary—starting in Churachandpur and ending with an address at Kangla Fort in Imphal—reflects an attempt to balance optics and outreach. He is expected to meet displaced families and may announce rehabilitation packages, raising hopes that he will be able bridge the chasm.Churachandpur and Imphal—the symbolic and emotional centers of the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities respectively and this dual engagement is widely seen as a gesture of neutrality, signalling that the centre is deeply concerned about the humanitarian and political crisis, but not taking sides.The conflict, which erupted on May 3, 2023, has deepened the divide between the Meitei community, dominant in the Imphal Valley, and the Kuki-Zo tribal groups inhabiting the surrounding hills. What began as a protest against the Meitei demand for Scheduled Tribe status quickly spiralled into full-blown violence, fuelled by long-standing grievances over land rights, political representation, and cultural marginalization. The violence has not only fractured Manipur’s social fabric but also hardened political positions.
