A black belt tasked with restoring peace: Martial artist Yumnam Khemchand Singh steps in to heal violence-hit Manipur | Guwahati Information – The Occasions of India

GUWAHATI: Yumnam Khemchand Singh strikes with self-discipline. On the mat and in politics. A taekwondo grasp and Manipur’s subsequent CM, his two lives dovetail at a second the state badly wants steadiness.Elected Tuesday because the chief of BJP’s legislature social gathering, the 62-year-old MLA from Singjamei in Imphal West district is about to take cost after practically a yr of President’s rule within the state scarred by ethnic battle.He arrives with a uncommon credential: first Indian awarded a fifth Dan black belt in conventional South Korean taekwondo – a rank reserved for senior masters and custodians of the artwork.The honour got here late final yr in Seoul, the place International Conventional Taekwondo Federation vp Mayong Suk handed him a certificates signed by six grandmasters led by federation president Jun Lee. Khemchand had cleared the promotion check in Oct 2024 however couldn’t journey earlier because of the violence in Manipur.“Grateful to the International Conventional Taekwondo Federation for conferring upon me the Certificates of fifth Dan in Conventional Taekwondo – the primary of its sort in India,” he wrote on social media.Korea, he has mentioned, holds a near-spiritual pull. “Each Meitei elder feels that Hinduism just isn’t full with out visiting Vrindavan throughout their lifetime,” he advised a public gathering in Singjamei final month. “Likewise, I additionally felt that studying taekwondo artwork is incomplete with out visiting Korea.”Lengthy earlier than politics, there was dojang – the coaching corridor. Khemchand’s martial arts journey started on the age of 16, quickly after clearing his class 10 exams from Imphal’s Ram Lal Paul Excessive Faculty in 1978. He went to Korea in 1990, graduating from Kukkiwon, the World Taekwondo Academy.Even earlier than his commencement, he had carried the Korean martial artwork into Assam and Manipur, founding the All Assam Taekwondo Affiliation in 1982, on the peak of the anti-foreigner agitation. He later rose to vp of the Taekwondo Federation of India.His imprint in Assam was deep. After the 1985 Assam Accord ushered Asom Gana Parishad to workplace, a number of ministers counted amongst his college students. He later educated Assam police personnel within the self-discipline.Politics adopted. Since 2017, he has represented Singjamei. He served as meeting speaker from 2017 to 2022, then as cupboard minister within the second N Biren Singh govt, holding MAHUD, rural growth, panchayati raj and schooling. Biren Singh, his predecessor, was himself a former footballer with BSF.In Dec final yr, Khemchand crossed one other line – literal and political – visiting Kuki-Zo villages in Ukhrul and Kamjong. It was the primary outreach by a Meitei politician throughout ethnic traces since violence erupted on Might 3, 2023, a gesture that quietly recast him as a reconciler. Greater than 260 folks have been killed and 1000’s displaced in clashes between Meiteis and Kukis.As Manipur searches for equilibrium, a black-belt chief minister steps ahead – educated to soak up drive, not amplify it. Khemchand is aware of the lesson by coronary heart: management first and strike final.