Guwahati: Over three-and-a-half decades after hanging his football boots, Nongthombam Biren Singh can seemingly draw lessons from defensive skills learnt at the turf to face his biggest challenge — presiding over a “failing administration” struggling to curb a bloody ethnic conflict in Manipur.
In Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district, his name has been rubbed off from every board and banner in town and from government buildings. Detractors of the Meitei leader accuse him of pursuing ‘majoritarian politics’, which has led to the alienation of Kuki-Zomi tribals.
That’s not all. Ten Kuki legislators, including seven from the BJP, jointly announced to seek a “separate administration under Constitution of India,” stating that they are representing the sentiments of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi hill tribals, and endorsing their political aspirations of “separation from Manipur”.
Desperate to douse the fire, the Manipur CM has lately been appealing to the people to maintain calm and “blame the government and not communities”.
ThePrint takes a look at Biren Singh’s journey — from a footballer to a journalist and chief minister; from playing for a team to politically commanding one; from writing about policy to making it.
Footballer-journalist-politician
Since 2017 onwards when he came to power first, Biren Singh has held fort for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur. The cut and thrust of parliamentary politics could not stop the former footballer from scoring votes. Once a trusted lieutenant of former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Biren Singh parted ways with his mentor and joined the BJP in October 2016.
Born in 1961, Biren Singh was only 18 when his football talent was noticed by BSF officers during a match at Koirengei in Imphal. In 1979, he and another Manipuri footballer were drafted to the BSF football team, which he represented till 1982.
The team lifted the Durand Cup in 1981, defeating Mohun Bagan. “He once played against Indian football greats — Bidesh Bose, Shyam Thapa and Manoranjan Bhattacharya — in the Durand Cup at New Delhi. He was in the BSF, and his opponents in Mohun Bagan and East Bengal,” said one of Biren Singh’s friends.
After his father N. Gouro Singh passed away, Biren Singh left the BSF as a sub-inspector and returned to Manipur in 1982. Gouro Singh was a police inspector and served in the CID of Manipur Police.
Biren Singh, meanwhile, continued playing football till 1987 and represented Manipur in the Santosh Trophy thrice in this period.
In 1992, he turned a new page to start a weekly Manipuri newspaper, Naharolgi Thoudang. Later, he turned it into a daily and served as editor till 2001. In April 2000, Biren Singh was jailed on sedition charge for reporting a speech by the late social activist Thaonaojam Iboyaima at a public meeting.
“The only saving grace was that he was arrested along with Thaonaojam Iboyaima, a man revered as the Jayprakash Narayan of Manipur… Biren emerged from custody as a hero of sorts, adorned with garlands. That was also perhaps the time he must have thought of entering politics,” senior journalist Yambem Laba wrote in The Statesman.
Iboyaima had delivered a speech citing United Nations declarations in support of the argument that “armed rebellion may be a last resort against colonial oppression”.
The two were charged under Sections 121, 121-A, and 124-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sent to Sajiwa Jail in Imphal. A furore in public compelled the government to release them.
“Biren became a hard-hitting journalist. He was jailed for a few days along with the social activist. Out of jail, he went on to become the president of All Manipur Working Journalist Union,” another friend of the chief minister said.
Political observers said it was his arrest that prompted Biren to join politics. In 2002, he made his electoral debut as a candidate of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) from Heingang assembly segment in Imphal East district. Journalists and footballers came forward to aid the poll expenses.
“I made him stand under the martyr’s column at the Bir Tikendrajit Park in Imphal. Then we made him take an oath wielding an axe, which was the party symbol. We took many pictures. He won by over 200 votes,” said one of his close friends, who also is a senior journalist.
The DPP legislature party later merged with the ruling Congress under Okram Ibobi Singh. Biren became an Ibobi loyalist, serving as a minister for seven years. But a fallout with the then chief minister after the 2012 election saw him sidelined from the decision making process as well as denial of a berth in the ministry.
The internal fight led to an open revolt against Ibobi, with Biren Singh and 24 other rebel MLAs taking the matter to the Congress high command. Though it was briefly addressed then, the trust between the two leaders was lost.
Also Read: Manipur, the aftermath: Efforts to move on, remembering good samaritans, prayers for ravaged home
At the receiving end
Biren Singh is known to have acted tough on those disagreeing with him, including journalists and activists, or criticising him in public. Over the past few years, the Manipur Police has booked several journalists in defamation cases and lodged criminal complaints against a few others under draconian laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the National Security Act (NSA).
In May 2021, political activist Leichombam Erendro was arrested for an “offensive social media post” after Manipur BJP chief S. Tikendra Singh died of Covid. Erendro had stated on Facebook that “cow dung and cow urine were not a cure for Corona”.
Erendro had also faced a case of sedition in July 2020 for posting a picture of MP Sanajaoba Leishemba and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Facebook with the caption — ‘Minai macha’ (‘Son of a Servant’).
That year, assistant superintendent of police Thonaujam Brinda, who was awarded the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Gallantry in 2018 for her contribution in curbing smuggling activities, returned her medal.
Brinda’s decision came after a special court acquitted Lhukosei Zou, a former chairman of the Autonomous District Council, Chandel and six others in a drug haul case. She had accused the chief minister, of directly, and through his senior officials, “piling pressure” on her to release Zou.
The senior police officer was instrumental in the arrest of Zou in 2018. Three years on, she then resigned from her job as additional superintendent of police.
Calls for leadership change since 2019
Two years on after he took oath as the Manipur chief minister on 15 March, 2017, he faced dissidence within the government, with some seeking a change in leadership. But the BJP top brass reportedly backed him to continue in the chair.
In 2022, when the BJP retained power by winning 32 of the 60 seats in the Assembly, a section of party leaders proposed Biswajit Singh for the CM’s role. Former Congress state chief Govindas Konthoujam, who joined the BJP in 2021, was also a contender for the post. But Biren Singh was yet again given the responsibility to lead the state.
Yet another time, on 27 April this year, the chief minister had dismissed reports of troubles within the party following resignations from at least four legislators from administrative positions.
“We’re all together now,” Biren Singh said after a meeting with party legislators in the presence of BJP Northeast-in-charge Sambit Patra.
All the four BJP MLAs held Biren Singh responsible for their decision to resign in protest against his leadership style and for allegedly keeping them away from policymaking.
The rebel MLAs, including a few Kuki legislators, had camped in Delhi at different intervals to seek a change in leadership.
“Meiteis have never been politically united except for major issues like the AFSPA or when it comes to territorial integrity. In Manipur and the rest of India, political leaders work for their party or their own political positions. It is not known to what level they are concerned about the structural injustice prevalent in the state, which is affecting everybody, not just a particular community — Meitei, Kuki, Naga or other linguistic groups,” author and historian Malem Ningthouja told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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