Pradeep C. Nair | Let Manipur, Our Sporting Capital, Finally Find Peace

Manipur today presents one of India’s most difficult governance and reconciliation challenges. The violence that began between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities in May 2023 has not fully subsided; in 2026, an older Naga-Kuki-Zo fault line also re-emerged, although, to begin with, it was only a drunken brawl. The latest cycle began in Ukhrul district in February, when clashes led to arson and displacement. By September 18, at least 42 civilians were killed in Naga-Kuki-Zo violence since March, while officials subsequently said more than 40 people had died since clashes began in February. The figures may be revised, but the scale is unmistakable: Manipur has moved from one communal confrontation into overlapping cycles of violence.

This explains why governing Manipur is so difficult. The state is home to many communities, but contemporary politics is shaped principally by three broad constituencies, Meitei, Naga and Kuki-Zo; each with its own historical memories, territorial concerns and political aspirations. A gesture towards one community is often interpreted by another as a concession made at its expense. Even security deployment, road access, land policy or rehabilitation can acquire an ethnic meaning. Governance, therefore, repeatedly assumes the character of a zero-sum game.

Yet conflict is only one part of Manipur’s story. The state has given India a remarkable cultural inheritance: Sagol Kangjei, the indigenous form from which modern polo evolved. Ras Leela, Lai Haraoba, Thabal Chongba, Pung Cholom, Thang-Ta, Sarit-Sarak, Luivat Pheizak, Lam-Kut-Lam are all cultural extravaganzas which rest of India should know. The distinctive GI-tagged Chak-Hao black rice is unique in its aroma and taste. Together they represent a cultural richness far greater than the state’s physical size.

Sport is perhaps the strongest expression of a shared Manipuri identity. Mary Kom, Mirabai Chanu, Dingko Singh, Kunjarani Devi, Laishram Sarita Devi, Oinam Bembem Devi and Bala Devi are the most familiar names from a deeper sporting ecosystem. Sports is a way of everyday life across communities. More than a thousand small, largely community-supported sports clubs exist across the state, with no state support. The results in 2026 again underline this extraordinary phenomenon. At the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Manipuri athletes won four medals: Mirabai Chanu took gold in weightlifting, Rishikanta Singh won silver in weightlifting, Jadumani Singh won silver in boxing; and Bindyarani Devi won bronze in weightlifting. At the ongoing Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, 36 sportspersons and three coaches from Manipur are part of India’s 499-member contingent — more than seven per cent of the national team from a state with only 0.22% of India’s population. Mirabai Chanu has already won silver in the women’s 49-kg event, ending India’s 28-year Asian Games medal drought in weightlifting, while Naorem Roshibina Devi won silver in wushu, becoming the first Indian wushu athlete to win a medal at three successive Asian Games.

These numbers strengthen Manipur’s claim to be called India’s sporting capital. Haryana remains one of India’s great sporting states and has a far larger population and resource base. There is no uniform national dataset that permits a precise comparison of medals per rupee of state expenditure. But measured by international representation, medals, range of disciplines and elite athletes produced relative to population, Manipur’s output is exceptional. The Khuman Lampak Sports Complex and National Sports University provide institutional depth, but the real advantage lies in the community club, the village field and the social prestige attached to sport. In sporting return from a small demographic and resource base, few Indian states compare.

That sporting culture can also become an instrument of reconciliation. Football, boxing, weightlifting, wushu, hockey and athletics cut across ethnic identities. Joint tournaments, youth exchanges and even civic activities such as “plogging” — jogging while collecting litter—can bring young people together around fitness, public service and shared spaces. People who train, compete and work together find it harder to see one another only through conflict.

Manipur’s tourism potential offers another route towards normalcy. Loktak Lake and its floating phumdis, Keibul Lamjao National Park, Kangla, Moirang and its INA heritage, Ukhrul and the Shirui Hills, forests, waterfalls and tribal cultures should make the state a major destination. Yet, repeated highway blockades and counter-blockades by organisations representing different communities at different moments in recent history have imposed an economic and psychological chokehold. They have disrupted essentials, discouraged tourism and limited the rest of India’s familiarity with Manipur itself.

Breaking this cycle requires more than government action. Civil society bodies such as COCOMI, ITLF, CoTU, the Kuki-Zo Council, the United Naga Council and other tribal and valley organisations must become partners in de-escalation rather than merely advocates of sectional demands. Elders, churches and traditional institutions, women’s groups and youth organisations can reopen channels that politics alone cannot. The state and Union governments must complement this with impartial security, justice, rehabilitation, free movement and sustained dialogue. There is also a factor that should not be underestimated: fatigue. Years of deaths, displacement, fear, interrupted education and damaged livelihoods have exhausted ordinary people. That fatigue can deepen despair, but it can also create an opening for peace when communities recognise that permanent confrontation has become self-defeating.

Ultimately, Manipur cannot be left to Manipur alone. Restoring peace requires a whole-of-nation approach — through political attention, tourism, education, investment, sport, cultural exchange, responsible media coverage and greater people-to-people contact. India must know Manipur not only through images of violence, but through Loktak, Sagol Kangjei, Ras Leela and its sports champions. A state that contributes so disproportionately to India’s sporting success deserves to be known for more than conflict. Manipur has repeatedly shown the country what courage, endurance and excellence look like. Its most important victory now must be peace.

Lt Gen. Pradeep C. Nair is former DG, Assam Rifles, and vice-chancellor, St Mary’s Rehabilitation University, Hyderabad