GUWAHATI: After a professional footballer, Manipur is all set to have a taekwondo expert as the new chief minister with BJP MLA Yumnam Khemchand Singh, elected as leader of the BJP legislature party in Manipur assembly.
The new govt will assume office nearly a year after former CM N Biren Singh, who played football for BSF, resigned and the state assembly was put under animated suspension and President’s rule imposed.
Kuki leader and former minister Nemcha Kipgen representing Kangpokpi constituency is likely to be named deputy chief minister, while Govindas Konthoujam, Bishnupur MLA, is set to become the home minister, signalling a power sharing arrangement aimed at restoring peace in the strife torn state, top sources said.
The source added that Khemchand, the first Indian to be awarded the 5th Dan black belt in traditional South Korean taekwondo, is likely to stake claim to form the government on Wednesday in Imphal.
BJP in-charge of Manipur, Sambit Patra confirmed on X that the meeting of the BJP Manipur Legislature Party at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi “unanimously elected” Khemchand as the leader of the legislature party “by all the MLAs of BJP Manipur.”
The decision came at a meeting of BJP MLAs at the party headquarters, attended by former CM N Biren Singh, speaker Satyabrata Singh, state president A Sharda Devi, and central observers Tarun Chugh and Patra. Except for two unwell MLAs, all legislators were present.
Underscoring his role as both a reconciler and a leader, Khemchand, a martial arts pioneer who introduced taekwondo to Assam and Manipur in the early 1980s hogged the limelight during his recent outreach to Kuki-Zo villages in Ukhrul and Kamjong on December 8 last year, marking the first visit by a Meitei MLA across ethnic lines since the outbreak of violence in 2023
Khemchand has represented Singjamei constituency since 2017. He earlier served as speaker of the assembly (2017–2022) and as cabinet minister in the second Biren Singh government, handling MAHUD, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, and Education portfolios.
Manipur has been under President’s Rule since February 13, 2025, with the 60-member assembly in suspended animation. The BJP currently holds 37 seats, supported by defectors from JD(U) and allies including NPP, NPF, and Independents.
More than 260 people have been killed and thousands displaced in clashes between Meiteis and Kukis since May 2023. Khemchand’s elevation is seen as a step toward reconciliation and stability.
He earned the 5th Dan rank after clearing a promotion test in October 2024 but was unable to travel to Seoul earlier due to ethnic conflict in Manipur. He was felicitated at the federation’s office in Seoul on December 30, where Vice President Mayong Suk of the Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation presented the certificate issued by six Grandmasters led by President Jun Lee.
In a Facebook post, Singh expressed gratitude to the federation “for conferring upon me the Certificate of 5th Dan in Traditional Taekwondo—the first of its kind in India.”
A practising martial artist since the age of 16, Singh founded the All Assam Taekwondo Association and later served as vice president of the Taekwondo Federation of India.
Prabin Kalita is a journalist at The Times of India and is curren...
Read MorePrabin Kalita is a journalist at The Times of India and is currently the Chief of Bureau (northeast). He has been reporting in mainstream Indian national media since 2001. He has been a field journalist reporting gamut of issues from India’s northeastern region and major developments in neighbouring countries like Myanmar, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh concerning India and northeastern region. He has been covering insurgency—internal and cross-border, politics, natural calamities, environment etc. He is a post-graduate in Geological Sciences from Gauhati University.
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