INDIA, Dec. 9 -- Breaking a two-year deadlock created by the ethnic conflict in Manipur, BJP MLA and former Rural Development Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh reached out to Kuki communities in the hill districts on Monday, marking one of the rarest cross-community gestures since violence erupted in May 2023.

Khemchand, who represents Singjamei constituency in Imphal West and earlier served as the Speaker of the Manipur Assembly, became the first Meitei BJP legislator to step inside a Kuki relief camp since the crisis began. His visit comes during the ongoing President's Rule and just weeks before Christmas.

The MLA began his outreach at the Sareikhong Baptist Church, later travelling to a relief centre at Litan in Ukhrul district, where...