Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Manipur’s ethnic group Meitei has kept the differences aside with Kuki, which has divided the state into two, and called for unity in receiving bodies of the two air hostesses who lost their lives after the doomed Air India plane crashed in Hyderabad moments after it flew from runway 23.
Nganthoi K Sharma, who died in the Ahmedabad plane crash, was a Meitei, while Lamnunthiem Singson was a Kuki-Zo. Nganthoi’s family is waiting for her remains to arrive in Imphal, while Singson’s family is likely to skip the capital route.
The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), which is a key Meitei civil society group, has said that people should come together for a dignified return of the two women who died in the Air India plane crash, adding that “both daughters belong to Manipur”, News18 reported.
“We have appealed to all sections of society to extend full cooperation. The entire state is united in mourning their untimely loss,” Hindustan Times quoted COCOMI’s convener as saying.
This is the first time that both ethnic groups since the May 2023 violence have called for unity.
Earlier, Manipur’s Chief Secretary PK Singh assured that the bodies would be safely returned to their respective homes.
He said, “Necessary arrangements have been made to ensure that their names are treated with the highest dignity and respect and subsequently transported safely to their respective homes.”
A senior police officer said that if Singson’s body passed through Imphal, it could send a “message of peace,” with Meitei groups reportedly responding “positively”, Hindustan Times reported.
Kuki leaders remain unconvinced. “Going to Imphal is not safe,” said K Shongreng of the Kuki Students’ Organisation, which is assisting the family. “We all know what has happened to our people there,” Shongreng was quoted by HT as saying.
Ginza Vualzong, spokesman for the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), called it “a show of optics,” adding that entering the Meitei-majority Imphal means “risking” lives, News18 reported.