Manipur: COCOMI agitation enters Day 2 amid protest over territorial identity

A tense atmosphere continues to grip Manipur as the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) intensified its statewide agitation for the second consecutive day on Monday.

The protest, aimed at defending Manipur’s territorial integrity and demanding an official apology from the governor, saw hundreds of demonstrators—mainly students and civil society activists—lining the Tiddim Road and other key areas.

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The focal point of Monday’s protest was along the route from Imphal International Airport to Raj Bhawan. Protesters, many of them young students from schools and colleges across the valley, formed human chains and held placards that read “Governor should apologise” and “Don’t disintegrate the territorial integrity of Manipur.”

The trigger for the agitation dates back to May 20, 2024, when Central forces from the Mahar Regiment reportedly ordered the removal of the words “Manipur State” from a transport bus ferrying journalists to Ukhrul for the Shirui Lily Festival.

The bus, organized for media coverage of the annual cultural event, became a flashpoint after the removal directive was seen by many as a symbolic erasure of the state’s identity.

COCOMI—a umbrella body of Meitei civil society organisations—quickly rallied public sentiment around what it called a pattern of actions undermining Manipur’s constitutional and cultural status.

According to COCOMI, the incident is not isolated but part of an emerging trend that raises concerns about the state’s territorial demarcation and autonomy in the face of ongoing ethnic conflict and central interventions.

Over the past year, Manipur has been deeply divided along ethnic lines, particularly between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.

While central and state authorities have struggled to maintain peace, organisations like COCOMI have grown increasingly vocal about what they view as attempts to weaken Manipur’s political identity, especially within the Imphal valley dominated by the Meitei population.

“Today it’s about a name on a bus, tomorrow it could be about borders,” said a protester in Kwakeithel. “We cannot stay silent when such acts question our statehood.”

COCOMI has called for continued protests until the governor issues a public apology and the Union government provides assurances that Manipur’s territorial integrity will be preserved.