Located about 48 km south of Manipur's capital city, Imphal; the Loktak lake is a popular elevated vantage point offering a panoramic, 360-degree bird's-eye view of the vast blue waters and surrounding hills.
It is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India.
Press 'Google' on net and you may also know that it is famous for phumdis (masses of floating vegetation) and the Keibul Lamjao National Park, the world's only floating national park.
It is the last natural habitat of the endangered Sangai dancing deer. Now something new ....
Visitors to the scenic Lake discuss politics. But mostly off the record and needless to add, even - reluctantly !! I was eyewitness and an intense listener to what young students and others discuss about and around 'politics' on July 16, 2026.
Refrain from a few students has been -- the BJP is "no longer as popular" as it used to be in 2022 ... when the last assembly elections took place. Of course -- the foremost reason is 2023 'ethnic clashes' between Christian Kukis and Hindu Meities. We need a pause.
The ethnic violence that began in May 2023 killed at least 175-200 people and injured some 1200.
Some 50 people are reported missing from both the communities. And worse, the rioters burned down or vandalized some 380 religious structures including temples and churches.
It was during the stint of N Biren Singh as the BJP chief minister. But even the crowd around Loktak say - for the fast approaching 2027 elections - Biren Singh is a key political factor.
Y Khemchand Singh is a chief minister in office; but very few think - he may survive long till or after the elections. But there were some. Interestingly, a female (40 something) says: "N Biren Singh will come back as the chief minister. The riots were not taking place because of him".
Elsewhere in Congress Bhavan - Imphal - I was told by a few leaders that the grand old party is on a "revival journey". "There is a strong pro-Congress wave and this is supported by strong anti-BJP mood in the street". As a mischievous journo, I threw up this factor to a crowd of youngsters. One of them laughed and tried to discourage me.
"Why discuss dirty politics in such a nice place?," he remarked but hastened to add - "You may not believe, miracle is happening slowly under Khemchand. People think he is taking right decisions ... reaching out to Kukis and Nagas as well. He has been traveling to places such as Jiribam and Churachandpur. But this Naga-Kuki clashes is something that ought to have been avoided".
He was quickly countered his friend or colleague --- "The Naga-Kuki clashes are not new. We were very young. It happened in 1997.. somehow the old disease has come back".
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| Blogger at Loktak |
As tension prevails and Kukis and Meities avoid travelling to each other fiefdoms; the Loktak crowd were generally Meities, non-local visitors from Imphal and even places like Barpeta in Assam and a substantial number of local Meitei Muslims.
Somehow, discussions about Kukis figured. Many said the participation of the Kuki population in voting would be very less.
"They are not happy ... and they will not be happy without a new administrative homeland for them" -- was a common refrain among many.
One school teacher in a private school at Churachandour later told me:
"The BJP, which runs the double-engine government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was in 2023 accused by Kuki and Zo people of pursuing policies that discriminated against Christian Zos, Paiteis and Kukis, including forced evictions that threatened the security of their land. The Kuki and Zo people cannot forget that there was an attempt to cast us as illegal immigrants".
However, a shopkeeper says - "There are political compulsions too for Kuki leaders irrespective of party affiliation. We all want some good package. We all want the SoO - the suspension of military operations to deliver us peace and money. That will not come from a regional party or the Congress".
This means after elections; the elected Kuki MLAs - 10 of them in a House of 60 - may yet again back the BJP.
However, this could be one part of the story. The other part is about the intense speculation about the possible return of Biren Singh into the position of authority in Imphal.
Incidentally, I had visited Imphal and Churachandpur in 2025 January --- just a few weeks before resignation of the chief minister Biren and imposition of President's Rule on Feb 13 (2025).
Then I was told by a local political observer : "Biren Singh has/had a bad habit or he is too frank... he started blaming Meiteis - his own people - for demanding ST status for triggering the violence in 2023 and some time he would blame the foreign immigrants. All these were to cover up (his) own failures. And these combined together to write his political obit".
But things also change pretty fast in politics.
In the northeast, there are strong leaders such as Neiphiu Rio (CM in Nagaland) and a few of his counterparts Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam) and Lalduhoma (Mizoram) -- who all have been surviving and thriving in the seats of power and their politics.
Can Biren Singh be the fourth such regional satrap ?
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| Khemchand : New Man to watch ? |
In Kuki-Zo heartland, Khemchand has generated some curiosity. He is seen as an accommodating political protagonist who is not really pushing the K word. Meaning he has not been seeking an anti-Kuki political grounding.
Does this man ... good for Khemchand or the end of a journey for a 'compromising' CM face remains to be seen ?
ends
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