Part of the Manipur Crisis Chronicle. Every claim carries a cited source; contested numbers are shown with their dates, never merged. This installment covers 1–31 May 2025, with two dated backfills (23 Apr, 30 Apr).
Two years on, the communities again marked May 3 apart: the Kuki-Zo side as mourning and separation, the Meitei side as a people's convention for the state's future, and the Thadou Inpi Manipur asking everyone to call it a "Peace Day" instead.[209][210] Zomi Students Federation and Kuki Students Organisation urged a shutdown of all educational institutions and business establishments on May 3, with black flags at residences, a mass prayer at the Martyrs' cemetery and a public gathering at the Wall of Remembrance in Churachandpur.[209] The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), which had announced on April 23 that May 3 would be observed as "Separation Day", described the day as "a day of reflection and remembrance for the victims of the ethnic conflict that has deeply impacted the Kuki-Zo communities".[209][207] The Kuki-Zo community, The Hindu reported, "has been demanding a separate administration as the 'only solution' to the ethnic conflict that has claimed more than 250 lives and displaced about 60,000 people".[210] In the Imphal Valley, COCOMI appealed to people to halt all activities on May 3 and attend a public convention at Khuman Lampak stadium, where civil society leaders, scholars and internally displaced people were to speak and a candlelight tribute was planned; FOCS also announced its own programme for the day.[209][210] The Thadou Inpi Manipur, "an apex body of the Thadou community that resents being clubbed as Kuki", appealed that May 3 be observed every year as "Peace Day" "instead of creating 'antagonistic' and 'communal' vibes", describing the Thadous as "the most affected yet silenced victims of the two-year-old violence".[210]
The government's answer to the naming contest was administrative caution.[210][211] Security was heightened, with intensified patrolling of the "buffer zone" foothills around the Imphal Valley and frisking in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi; additional army columns were moved into fringe regions at the convergence of Kuki-Zo and Meitei areas.[210] A senior government official told The Hindu: "While sit-in protests and demonstrations are allowed on Saturday, we will not be allowing rallies. The Kuki-Zo groups in Churachandpur have been asked to not call their protest as 'Separation Day' as it may provoke the other community."[211] Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla chaired a security review on April 30 directing the police, army, Assam Rifles and CAPF to be extra vigilant.[211]
May 2 brought the government's own accounting, in figures the chronicle records with their dates.[211] "At least 6,020 weapons were looted from police armouries after violence between the Kuki-Zo and the Meitei people erupted in the State on May 3, 2023", and half of them had been recovered, the official said;[211] "We have recovered over 5,000 weapons so far, this includes non-police weapons also.[211] Some weapons have been modified.[211] Around 1,750 police weapons were recovered since February 13."[211] The total of recovered police weapons "now stands at 3,000, a significant jump from the 1,200 police weapons recovered till September 2024", when police had recovered 2,681 weapons including non-police ones; 200 people had been arrested for extortion-related activities in the past three months.[211] A May 5 report from the same paper's same correspondent restated the loot total ("As many as 6,020 weapons and lakhs of ammunition were looted from police armouries") and said "one-third of the recoveries were made after President's Rule kicked in" — a proportion that does not match the same paper's May 2 figure of 1,750 of 3,000 recovered since February 13 (58%). The chronicle shows both readings and does not merge them.[211][213] The loss itself is larger than the October-2023 estimate of roughly 5,600 arms stored in the chronicle's record, because the two figures come from different dates and different counting bases.[211]
The May 5 Supreme Court hearing that April had set up (week commencing May 5 after the CFSL report was declared ready) became the month's sharpest institutional moment: the court rejected the government's own sealed-cover forensic report.[208] "The Supreme Court on Monday raised serious doubts over the authenticity of a sealed cover report submitted by the union government regarding leaked audio tapes allegedly featuring former Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The top court directed the government to ensure that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) re-examines the audio recordings and furnishes a fresh report."[208] The bench, led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna with Justice Sanjay Kumar, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta: "Please examine and bring a fresh report."[208] The court was hearing a petition by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, seeking a court-supervised Special Investigation Team probe; the petition claimed the recordings "contain incriminating evidence linking the former Chief Minister to the ethnic violence that erupted between the Meitei and Kuki communities in May 2023 and continued until February this year", and that the clashes claimed over 230 lives.[208] The rejection lands inside an existing dispute the chronicle has tracked since August 2024: the state government called the clips doctored and "anti-national", while Kuki-Zo MLAs and civil society insisted they were authentic.[208]
The month's second front was Naga country.[216] The Shirui Lily Festival, "held after a two-year gap", was inaugurated by Governor Bhalla on May 20 on the Tangkhul Naga-majority Ukhrul district's namesake peak.[216][221] Into that event came Arambai Tenggol: "A unit of the Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei radical group that gained notoriety during the ethnic conflict with the Kuki-Zo tribes, allegedly put up the seven-coloured 'Salai Taret' flag during the Manipur Tourism-organised Shirui Lily Festival."[216] The Tangkhul Naga Long called it an "utterly disgraceful and despicable attempt by the Arambai Tenggol to tarnish and obfuscate the spirit and meaning of the Shirui Lily Festival for petty and dirty political gains at the wrong place and time"; the Tangkhul Katamnao Saklong called it "an act of grave provocation" by a faction "identifying itself as the Cobra Team Unit 58".[216] The NSCN (I-M) said the flag "has no cultural, historical, or political connection with the Tangkhuls" and that "the Arambai Tenggol has once again proved themselves as nothing but a bunch of 'warmongers' provoking the nerves of the peace-loving Tangkhuls", seeking an unqualified apology within 48 hours.[216] Arambai Tenggol replied the slogans, including "Long live Manipur", were "messages of love and unity", that the flag "should not be construed as a territorial claim or provocation", and that "the valley of Manipur, and the people of Arambai Tenggol, embrace and honour the spirit of peaceful coexistence among all indigenous communities who respect the unity and integrity of Manipur".[216]
The festival row did not emerge from nowhere.[215] A dated backfill the chronicle folds in here: on April 23, "Unknown miscreants ... set fire to several houses in two Kuki villages of Manipur's Naga-dominated Kamjong, a district bordering Myanmar, prompting the authorities to impose prohibitory orders",[215] with most villagers away tilling fields when Gampal and Haiyang villages were attacked; Kamjong's District Magistrate imposed restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.[215] Kuki-Zo organisations including the Kuki Inpi Manipur and Kuki Students' Organisation condemned the attack and demanded rebuilding, rehabilitation, compensation, "neutral security forces", and said: "These heinous attacks have terrorised innocent Kuki civilians and once again imperilled the already fragile peace and stability in the region."[215] The Hindu's report added the historical frame: "The State has a history of such conflicts between different communities. One of the bloodiest was the Kuki-Naga conflict in the early 1990s that claimed more than 1,000 lives."[215]
The sharpest valley mobilisation of May was not about the hills at all — it was about the state's name on a bus.[222] On May 20, journalists travelling in a Manipur State Transport (MST) bus arranged by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations to cover the Shirui Lily Festival were halted at the Gwaltabi checkpoint in Imphal East; security personnel "allegedly instructed them to conceal the 'Manipur State Transport' signage on the vehicle", and the journalists called off the assignment and returned to Imphal in protest.[222] The Indian Journalists Union condemned an "unacceptable and alarming" act of harassment, with IJU President Geetartha Pathak saying "This incident is a blatant attempt to muzzle the press and undermine the democratic fabric of our nation", and Secretary-General Sabina Inderjit calling it "part of a disturbing pattern of intimidation"; the Manipur government announced on May 21 a two-member inquiry committee (Commissioner (Home) N. Ashok Kumar and Secretary Kirankumar Singh) to report within 15 days.[222][221]
COCOMI answered with a 48-hour general strike from midnight May 21, demanding an apology from Governor Bhalla and the resignation of Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh, DGP Rajiv Singh and Chief Secretary Prashant Kumar Singh; convenor Khuraijam Athouba said "The decision to have Manipur removed from a State bus itself is anti-Manipur, absolutely challenges the idea of Manipur and its historical and cultural identity."[221] The bandh closed business, education, offices and public transport across the five Imphal Valley districts for a second day on May 23; on the night of May 22 supporters staged a two-kilometre torch rally raising slogans that "Manipur cannot be obliterated", and women supporters pasted "Manipur/Kangleipak" on the windshields of central security-force vehicles — Kangleipak being the ancient name of Manipur.[221] Only medical emergencies and travel to the Shirui Lily Festival were exempted.[221]
The political contest of the month was over Article 356 itself.[212] A dated backfill: on April 30, 21 MLAs from diverse constituencies "have submitted a joint memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging the reinstatement of an elected government",[223] citing "growing public demand for an elected government" and noting that "Many civil society organisations have come out openly against the imposition of President's Rule and are demanding the installation of a popular government.[223] Public rallies and street corner meetings have intensified, with blame directed at ruling MLAs for failing to stake claim to form a government";[223] signatories crossed communities, including Md Ashab Uddin (Jiribam), Janghemlung Panmei (Tamenglong), J. Kumo Sha (Karong), L. Losii Dikho (Mao) and Ram Muivah (Ukhrul).[223] On May 3, the Congress demanded fresh elections, with Manipur in-charge Saptagiri Ulaka calling it "one of the gravest humanitarian crises in India. People fear that this violence was manufactured and two years have now gone by", asserting "More than 260 people have been killed, 1,500 injured and over 70,000 displaced" — figures the chronicle records as the Congress's claim, on its date, not merged with the government's 250-plus register — and saying President's Rule "was only imposed after 20 months" of demand; Manipur unit chief Keisham Meghachandra Singh called the BJP the "architect" of the violence and said the party was not serious about ending it.[212]
On May 5, BJP Northeast in-charge Sambit Patra arrived in Imphal, meeting former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, BJP legislators and Kuki-Zo and Zomi civil society organisations.[213] Zomi Council president Vumsuan Naulak told The Hindu that Patra conveyed that as long as "thousands of illicit arms remain in the hands of civilians not under any authority's control, 'they do not feel any urgency in installing a popular ministry'", and that he had urged dialogue "with compatible organisations in the valley such as the Meitei Leepun, Arambai Tenggol and the COCOMI", adding: "We do not want to speak to any youth club, we want to speak to people who are in the real business."[213] BJP MLA Sapam Kunjakeshwor said there was "no discussion on the recent letter by 21 MLAs to PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah about formation of government in Manipur."[213] Patra also met two Kuki-Zo MLAs in Churachandpur, including Vungzagin Valte, "who had survived a mob attack on May 4, 2023".[213]
The Kuki-Zo reaction to a physical march into the hills was a warning.[214] "The Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) has slammed the upcoming 'Chalo Manipur' campaign, calling it a dangerous provocation designed to escalate ethnic tensions rather than rehabilitate displaced communities",[214] accusing the Rashtrahit Sarvopari Sangathan (RSS) and allied right-wing outfits of using rehabilitation "to mask what it described as a deliberate attempt to infiltrate and dominate Kuki-inhabited hill areas"; its statement, signed by Information & Publicity Secretary Janghaolun Haokip, said "This is not a peace initiative. It is a blatant push to forcibly infiltrate Kuki ancestral lands, knowing full well it would ignite new waves of ethnic violence" and "The hills are not political laboratories, and we will not allow ethnic cleansing to parade under the banner of peace."[214]
By month's end the push for government formation had moved from memorandum to meeting rooms.[219] The BJP has 37 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly, seven of whom belong to the Kuki-Zo community; "Those seven MLAs have not set foot in Imphal since May 2023", when the conflict broke out.[219] Fifteen MLAs met State BJP president Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi on May 31 to discuss "meeting the expectations of the people to have a democratically elected popular government"; the meeting came less than 24 hours after 28 BJP legislators gathered at former minister Thongam Biswajit's residence; Sharda Devi told journalists "We desire a government that can focus on development and sustainable peace. Everything depends on our Central leadership."[219] A team of 10 NDA legislators — including two from the National People's Party and an independent — met the Governor at Raj Bhavan on May 29 to urge a popular government; the paper said "the bid to form the government gained momentum after the May 20 bus incident plunged the Imphal Valley back into chaos."[219]
On May 22, the Ministry of Home Affairs designated the court of the district and sessions judge, Churachandpur, as a special court under Section 11 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, "for the trial of the scheduled offences investigated by the National Investigation Agency", in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court; its jurisdiction extends throughout Manipur.[217][218] The NIA has taken over three key cases from the 2023 violence, "including the abduction and killing of six women and children in Jiribam", which it registered in November 2024 after the MHA handed the investigations over "due to the gravity of the crimes and the deteriorating law and order situation".[217][218]
The pattern of May 2025 reads as a war of names more than a war of fronts.[unverified] The state's official name became the month's contested symbol: Kuki-Zo organisations were told not to call May 3 "Separation Day";[211] the Thadou Inpi called it "Peace Day" and rejected the Kuki label;[210] COCOMI's convention answered with the ancient name "Kangleipak" on security-force windshields and the slogan that "Manipur cannot be obliterated"; and the bus-signage incident — security personnel allegedly making journalists cover the words "Manipur State Transport" — produced a bandh and a government-formation demand.[221][222] Public perceptions of the conflict in May were dominated by these name battles rather than by front-line killings, which matches the momentum of The Hindu's own report that the government-formation bid "gained momentum after the May 20 bus incident".[219]
The factual record of the month supports a few perception claims and contradicts others.[unverified] The perception that the crisis is unresolved after two years is supported by the anniversary's security posture and the seven Kuki-Zo MLAs still unable to enter Imphal.[211][219] The uniform "more than 250"/"at least 260" death tallies and the unmatching recovery proportions in the same paper (1,750 of 3,000 vs "one-third") keep the number ladder visibly distinct.[212][213] The official "no violence in the past four months" claim of April 2 sits awkwardly against a month whose anniversary required a ban on rallies and whose peak event (Shirui) required a ban on the word "Separation Day"; the chronicle notes the tension without adjudicating it, because the official claim and the security posture come from different authorities, dated differently.[210][211] The perception gap the month exposes most sharply is inside the government's own story of the tapes: the SC's rejection of the sealed FSL report directly contradicts the "doctored" framing the state government pressed in August 2024, and the petition's "over 230 lives" claim coexists with press tallies of more than 250—the ladder of contested totals continues, never merged.[208]
Missing from the record this month, and flagged as gaps: the COTU's own memorandum to Patra (May 6) demanding separate administration; the ITNE anniversary datapoint "Manipur shuts down on 2nd anniversary of ethnic violence; IDPs still wait for homecoming"; the police statement denying a Kuki group's threat ahead of the Shirui festival (May 15); the inquiry committee's report on the Gwaltabi incident (due 15 days after May 21); and any timeline for fresh elections.[unverified]
CLUSTER 025a (special NIA court): The Hindu (PTI wire) and ITNE both used the label "ethnic violence" seven times in a near-identical wire-shaped register;[217][218] ITNE added one "clash" and the historical cause (the High Court's ST recommendation). The cluster shows source convergence on the label, with no outlet dissent; the first draft was set by the MHA notification itself, and both outlets relayed it the same day (23 May) with the same "three cases including Jiribam" list.[217][218] Wire duplication is present on the Hindu side (PTI byline); ITNE's is an original write.[217][218] Bias flag: neither outlet examined why the special court sits in Churachandpur (hill district) rather than Imphal, an asymmetry visible to the chronicle's reader though not flagged by either paper.[unverified]
CLUSTER 025b (Gwaltabi bus-signage): the IJU story (ITNE) uses ZERO ethnic framing terms — it is a press-freedom/institutional register ("muzzle the press", "democratic fabric") — while The Hindu's bandh report frames the same incident inside the ethnic-conflict context ("ravaged by ethnic clashes", "limps back to normalcy").[221][222] The same "allegedly" hedge appears in The Hindu's bus report but the IJU reports the instruction as fact; the ITNE sidebar headline records Patra's counter-frame "'avoidable misunderstanding'".[221][222] First draft: the IJU-condemnation story (22 May) and the COCOMI bandh call (midnight 21 May) both preceded the government's inquiry-committee announcement (21 May), so civil-society framing entered the record before the official one.[unverified]
The month's sourcing was single-outlet for several items (the SC hearing only via ITNE; the bus-incident detail only via IJU and The Hindu; KIM's statement only via ITNE) — a concentration the chronicle flags rather than claims to have balanced.[unverified] All May-window sources are Wayback pinned snapshots except the ITNE 21-MLA memorandum, fetched live; the Kamjong arson (April 23) and the 21-MLA memorandum (April 30) are April-dated backfills folded into this installment because the project file identified them as May leads.[unverified]
Sources: [207] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/manipur-tribal-body-to-observe-may-3-as-separation-day/article69481802.ece — The Hindu 23 Apr 2025 — ITLF calls May 3 'Separation Day' [208] https://web.archive.org/web/20250506111551/https://www.indiatodayne.in/manipur/story/manipur-violence-supreme-court-rejects-sealed-fsl-report-on-leaked-audio-clips-orders-fresh-examination-1209186-2025-05-05 [209] https://web.archive.org/web/20250501054327/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/kuki-zo-student-organisations-urge-people-to-observe-shutdown-on-may-3-in-parts-of-manipur/article69509481.ece [210] https://web.archive.org/web/20250502180152/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/manipur-ethnic-conflict-security-heightened-ahead-of-second-anniversary/article69530874.ece [211] https://web.archive.org/web/20250502164538/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/half-of-manipurs-looted-police-weapons-recovered-ahead-of-ethnic-conflicts-second-anniversary-mostly-during-presidents-rule/article69531107.ece [212] https://web.archive.org/web/20250503152720/https://www.indiatodayne.in/manipur/story/congress-wants-fresh-elections-in-manipur-says-crisis-one-of-the-gravest-in-country-1208319-2025-05-03 [213] https://web.archive.org/web/20250505180149/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/bjp-northeast-in-charge-sambit-patra-meets-meitei-and-kuki-zo-representatives-in-manipur/article69541842.ece [214] https://web.archive.org/web/20250517121345/https://www.indiatodayne.in/manipur/story/kim-slams-rss-backed-chalo-manipur-march-terms-it-a-provocative-threat-to-ethnic-harmony-1209703-2025-05-06 [215] https://web.archive.org/web/20250506141208/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/kuki-houses-set-ablaze-in-manipurs-naga-dominated-district/article69483450.ece [216] https://web.archive.org/web/20250524123953/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/arambai-tenggol-flag-hoisted-on-manipurs-shirui-peak-nagas-angry/article69613310.ece [217] https://web.archive.org/web/20250523061612/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/government-forms-special-nia-court-in-manipur-for-trial-of-cases-related-to-ethnic-violence/article69609222.ece [218] https://web.archive.org/web/20250524020323/https://www.indiatodayne.in/manipur/story/manipur-special-nia-court-set-up-in-churachandpur-to-try-ethnic-violence-cases-in-state-1217878-2025-05-23 [219] https://web.archive.org/web/20250531172709/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/manipur-bjp-legislators-push-for-government-formation/article69642046.ece [221] https://web.archive.org/web/20250523060026/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/manipur/48-hour-bandh-affects-normal-life-in-manipurs-imphal-valley/article69609121.ece [222] https://web.archive.org/web/20250522062409/https://www.indiatodayne.in/manipur/story/indian-journalists-union-condemns-security-forces-harassment-of-media-in-manipur-1217467-2025-05-22 [223] https://www.indiatodayne.in/manipur/story/21-manipur-mlas-submit-memorandum-to-pm-modi-demanding-reinstatement-of-elected-government-1206679-2025-04-30