President Murmu visits Manipur amid shutdown

President Droupadi Murmu began her two-day visit to Manipur on Thursday (December 11, 2025) amid a shutdown called by a conglomerate of banned armed organisations.

The Coordination Committee, comprising seven Imphal Valley-based extremist groups, announced two days ago that the shutdown would remain in force until the President left the conflict-scarred State.

Shops and markets in Imphal and adjoining areas remained closed, and vehicles were largely off the roads when the President reached the State’s capital, Imphal, at around 1 p.m. Her maiden visit to the State began with witnessing a polo exhibition match at the city’s Mapal Kangjeibung.

In the evening, she addressed a civic reception, hosted in her honour by the State government.

Ms. Murmu will visit the Nupi Lal Memorial Complex in Imphal on Friday (December 11, 2025) and pay her respects to Manipur’s women warriors. Nupi Lal refers to two women-led uprisings (1904 and 1939) in which Manipuri women resisted British colonial policies and asserted their rights and dignity.

The President is also scheduled to travel to Senapati district, bordering Nagaland, to address a public gathering and inaugurate various development projects for the district.

Hours before her arrival, Meitei groups Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) and Arambai Tenggol drew Ms. Murmu’s attention to the plight of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) scattered across the relief camps.

The COCOMI urged her to take firm steps to protect the Constitutional rights of the people in Manipur. Its convenor, Khuraijam Athouba, pointed out that thousands of people continued to live as refugees in their own State.

Recalling the government’s commitment that the IDPs would be resettled in three phases by December, he noted the lack of progress in this regard.

The Arambai Tenggol hoped that the President’s presence in Manipur would put the spotlight on the hardships being endured by the IDPs.

Ms. Murmu’s tour comes three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Manipur on September 13 for the first time since the ethnic violence broke out in May 2023, claiming more than 260 lives and displacing about 62,000 people.