Chavang Kut or Kut is one of the many beautifully celebrated festivals in Manipur
Imphal:
Two separate cases have been filed against Manipur Congress leader Lamtinthang Haokip and an X user on charges including “inciting community escalation of conflict” and “inciting hostility between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribe”.
Two first information reports (FIRs) filed by K Saratkumar Singh, general secretary of the Manipur Bharatiya Janata Party, said the two posted on Removed from festival list published in 2025.
Another FIR has been filed against user X named “Hennary L”.
Mr Singh had alleged in the FIR that “Hennary L” had “deliberately manipulated the original festivals by deleting some festival listings, including the Kut festival… to provide false information to the public”.
User X posted: “This continued oppression clearly shows that separate administration is the only solution,” Mr. Singh said in the FIR.
NDTV has seen both FIRs.
Mr Singh said in the two FIRs, the viral posts by Congress leaders and “Hennary L” “advocated and incited to create more chaos, escalate violence and make the situation unmanageable to satisfy their agenda” Require…”
KUT, a post-harvest festival of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribal community, has been removed from the list of gazetted holidays in Manipur calendar 2025 @BJP4India and its puppet government.@rashtrapatibhvn@INCIndia@INC Manipur@kharge@rahulgandhi@Jairam_Ramesh@girishgoa… pic.twitter.com/4EM4bqqAP8
– PhD. Lamtinthang Haokip (@DrLamtinthangHk) December 14, 2024
Mr. Singh said in the FIR that the list of public holidays for 2025 in the Manipur Gazette shows Kut as November 1, 2025. Singh said Kut ranks 28th in the list of 30-day public holidays.
There will be 23 public holidays in 2025. Kut Festival and other holidays such as Mera Houchongba and Nupi Lan Day are not included in the 2025 list of public holidays.
However, Kut appears in the Manipur Gazette 2024 list of public holidays.
The list of holidays announced by Manipur mentions three annexes – public holidays, restricted holidays and public holidays.
Public holidays apply to government agencies, while public holidays apply to institutions covered by the Negotiable Instruments Act, such as banks.
Mr Haukip has yet to issue a statement on the matter.
The Kuki tribe and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues including land rights and political representation.
While the general category May Tai want to be included in the Scheduled Tribes category, the Kukis, who have ethnic ties with the people of neighboring Myanmar’s Chin and Mizoram states, want a separate government in Manipur citing discrimination and Unequal distribution of resources and power in Myanmar.