Thadou Inpi Manipur calls Thadou Tribe Council "fake"

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jul 19: The Thadou Tribe Council (TTC-GHQ) is neither recognised by nor affiliated with the Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM). It is a pseudo-organisation floated by Letkhosei Haokip, a Government teacher under the Education (S) Department, for clan and militant-centric propaganda to subsume Thadou identity under Kuki supremacist narratives, the Thadou Inpi Manipur has claimed.
This statement came as a reaction to a recent statement issued by the Thadou Tribe Council addressed to the president of the United Naga Council (UNC) pertaining to the proposed Churachandpur-Kangpokpi route.
"The so-called TTC-GHQ is neither recognised by nor affiliated with Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM). It is a pseudo-organisation floated by Mr. TS Letkhosei Haokip, a Government Teacher under Education (S) Department, Government of Manipur, for clan and militant-centric propaganda to subsume Thadou identity under Kuki supremacist narratives," it said.
Apart from floating TTC-GHQ, Haokip has created multiple social media-based and pseudo-intellectual forums, including the Kuki Reunification Forum (KReF) for personal gain in the name of pan-Kuki unification, said the Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM).
The Kuki Reunification Forum (KReF), the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Forum (WKZIF), now called the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC), the obsolete Kuki Chiefs Association (Manipur), and the youth wing Lomlhang Som (LS)--these five organisations, termed the Federal Council of Five (FCO5), are merely shells under a single individual, exploiting the Thadou populace in the name of pseudo “Kuki Nationalist” sentiments for personal profit and influence, said TIM.
"The TTC-GHQ letter portrays Thadou lands and identity as merely part of Kuki “blood brothers” territory, undermining the distinct ethnic, linguistic, and cultural identity of the genuine and indigenous Thadou as a recognised Scheduled Tribe in the State of Manipur. This is a deliberate distortion aimed at erasing Thadou identity in favour of Kuki political and militant interests. This Fake TTC-GHQ never works for the aspirations and welfare of the Thadou people," TIM said.
Only the Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM) is the legitimate apex body representing Thadou interests and rights, it clarified.
"Statements by unmandated bodies like TTC-GHQ or Thadou Inpi-GHQ are null and void, as they serve pseudo-Kuki Nationalism rather than genuine Thadou welfare," it said.
TIM’s legitimacy traces back to its founding in 1984 as the Thadou National Council (TNC), its renaming to Thadou Tribe Council (TTC) in 1992, and its restructuring as Thadou Inpi in 2015 at the Delhi Thadou Conclave to safeguard the distinct Thadou identity and Constitutional rights, TIM said.
The reformation of the redundant TTC-GHQ in 2023 under Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and Letkhosei Haokip is illegal and illegitimate, merely aiming to propagate pseudo-Kuki ideology to Thadou people through militant and clan-centric propaganda. TIM strongly rejects and denounces this distortion and undermining of distinct Thadou unity and identity, it added.
Every right-thinking citizen, the United Naga Council, Naga Hoho, Meitei, Zomi, Hmar tribes must be aware of the manipulative tactics of self-styled leaders like Letkhosei Haokip. "Their hypocrisy, anti-Naga, anti-Meitei, anti-Zomi, anti-Mizo and anti-Thadou stance are solely for personal gain, threatening inter-community harmony in Manipur," TIM said.
It reiterated that the Thadous are a distinct ethnic group of people.
"Thadou is not Kuki, or underneath Kuki, or part of Kuki, but a separate, independent entity from Kuki. Any organization that incorporates “Thadou” but espouses Kuki and mis-portrays Thadou as Kuki or a part of Kuki is illegitimate and does not represent Thadou people and interest," TIM said.