Himanta Biswa Sarma denies allegation that he took help from Kuki militant to win elections

On June 20, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma issued a written statement denying allegations that he had sought assistance from a Kuki militant group to secure victory for the BJP in the assembly election in 2017. The statement came a day after a group of 30 Manipur MLAs, including 28 from the BJP, in a memorandum to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had demanded “clarification of the allegation made by a certain militant group against a few central BJP leaders for giving support during 2017 assembly election”.

On June 13, 2023, India Today NE broke the story about a 2019 letter written by the leader of one of the Kuki outfits to Union Home Minister Amit Shah claiming that Sarma and Ram Madhav, the BJP general secretary in-charge of northeast, had taken help of these Kuki organizations to win the 2017 assembly elections. The BJP came to power in the northeastern state for the first time in 2017 and formed a government under the leadership of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. 

The letter was one of the annexures attached along with an affidavit filed by SS Haokip, Chairman, United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF), one of the armed organizations under Suspension of Operation (SoO) in an NIA court on June 8, 2023. Haokip is an accused in a case of illegal arms purchase from former Congress MLA Yamthong Haokip. The 10 pistols that SS Haokip bought had allegedly been stolen from state police armoury.  Yamthong Haokip was arrested on August 24, 2018 on charges of distributing stolen arms to militant outfits.

In the letter, the UKLF leader alleges that, in 2017, his organization and another Kuki outfit United People Front (UPF) got BJP candidates elected, as per an agreement with Ram Madhav and Sarma. The claims were earlier denied by Ram Madhav. In his statement Sarma asserted that SS Haokip’s letter was “a desperate attempt by an individual to save himself. Any insinuation of understanding with the said individual is baseless and devoid of merit.”

The revelation about the letter had caused much discomfort to the Manipur BJP unit, particularly the Meitei leaders. Most Meitei groups claim that Kuki militants under the SoO are behind the recent violence against Meiteis in the state. They have often demanded revocation of the SoO agreement against these militant groups. The BJP-ruled Union government’s reluctance to do so has often been attributed to its alleged “understanding” with the Kuki militant groups. SS Haokip’s letter lent credence to such conspiracy theories and Meitei BJP leaders in the state faced flak from their community. That’s why the delegation of the MLA demanded a clarification on the issue.

There are 32 Kuki insurgent groups in Manipur, of which 25 are under a tripartite SoO agreement with the Union government and the state government. The outfits, which have signed the SoO, function under two umbrella groups—17 under Kuki National Organization (KNO), and eight under the UPF. The SoO pact was signed on August 22, 2008, to initiate talks with these groups. On March 10, Chief Minister Biren Singh unilaterally withdrew the SoO agreement with two groups—Kuki National Army (KNA) and Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA)—alleging that they were influencing agitation among forest encroachers.