Deceased Manipur BJP MLA's Kin Refuse to Carry Out Last Rites Till Demand of Separate District is Met

New Delhi: The death of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vungzagin Valte has snowballed into a political storm in Manipur, with his family refusing to bury his corpse until the Zomi community’s long – standing demand for a separate district is met by the government.

Valte, who belonged to the Zomi community, could not recover from his injuries from a mob assault in Imphal on May 4, 2023, a day after the ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo people erupted, and died at a hospital in Haryana on February 21. The Hindu reported that his family has since then demanded a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into his death.

Valte’s body was first flown from Delhi to Aizawl, Mizoram as per his family’s request, and then brought to his native town Churachandpur in Manipur on February 24 via road in a convoy that saw hundreds of people paying their respect along the way. 

“Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh is learnt to have told the family that arrangements would be made to accord State honours to Valte,” The Hindu reported. Speaking with the national daily, Valte’s son, Joseph, said that the burial will not take place until its demands, which have already been submitted to Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, are met.

Churachandpur witnessed a total shutdown on February 24, even while the state government declared official mourning from February 22 to 24. 

Zomi Council’s chairman Vumsuan Naulak said that Valte's postmortem was conducted at a Churachandpur hospital on February 25. He added that the Kuki-Zo community leaders will decide the future course of action. “We have a list of demands and till the government accepts the condition, the burial is unlikely,” Naulak said.

Meanwhile, Governor Bhalla visited Churachandpur to pay his tribute to Valte. “The Governor met the bereaved family and conveyed his heartfelt condolences, praying for the eternal peace of the departed soul and strength for the family during this moment of profound grief,” he said on X. Manipur Security Adviser Kuldiep Singh also accompanied Bhalla to pay his respects.  

A senior government official confirmed to The Hindu that Valte’s family had indeed given its list of demands to Bhalla, following which “the family was told that the creation of a district is an administrative decision that takes time and requires consensus of the elected government.”

“It cannot happen in three or four days,” the official said.

Last year on September 13, Valte had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he was brutally attacked by “Meitei militia (Arambai Tenggol) that had left him paralysed. He said that in spite of such a brutal attack, no special inquiry by any of the security agencies was initiated. No arrests have been made so far.

Valte, who was a three-term MLA from Thanlon constituency, was attacked when he was heading back from a security review meeting at the chief minister’s Office.  

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