Imphal: With no resolution in sight for the ethnic conflict in the state, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has begun to feel the heat, not just from the tribal Kuki-Zo communities who are strongly opposed to him, but also the majority non-tribal Meitei groups that largely rallied behind him in the initial days of the crisis.
The conflict is now in its eighth month, and the growing pressure on Singh has coincided with Meitei groups once again foregrounding the demand to strip the Kuki-Zo communities of the Scheduled Tribe status — among the reasons behind the outbreak of the clashes between the two communities in May last year. A spate of killings orchestrated by suspected Kuki militants in the peripheral area of the Imphal valley and Moreh, on the India-Myanmar border, has also compounded the problems.
It is against this backdrop that CM Biren Singh, himself a Meitei, while addressing the 52nd statehood day celebration Sunday, told the central security forces deployed in Manipur that they have no reason to remain stationed unless they protect lives and properties.
“Central forces were not called to watch silently what was unfolding in the state,” he said.
The CM’s statement came the same day that the Manipur Legislative assembly adopted a resolution, signed by 35 of 39 MLAs from the valley, who went on record to say that if their demands regarding the control of the ongoing violence are not met by the Central government they will take “appropriate action”.
Influential Meitei groups such as the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) feel that Singh’s strongly worded statement on the role of the central forces was an indication that the message, conveyed to the CM by a delegation of COCOMI leaders who met him on 19 January had reached home.
“It was time that Singh owns up to responsibility for the state of affairs instead of remaining passive,” COCOMI spokesperson Kh Athouba told ThePrint Monday. “We gave him a few days to come up with a clear action plan on fighting the Kuki militants who have wreaked havoc in the recent weeks. If need be, he should take a stand against the Centre also, we told him.”
The violence has also led to an increase in suspected militant activities, which, after a lull, has once heightened in the past few weeks. Suspected Kuki militants gunned down Wangkhem Somorjit, an India Reserve Battalion officer attached to Manipur Rifles, and havilder Takhellambam Saileshwor in Moreh on 17 January.
On the same day, one Meitei village volunteer was killed in a village that comes under the Imphal West district. A day later four persons — including a father-son duo — of the Metei community were murdered allegedly by Kuki militants in the Bishnupur district.
After the killings, large-scale protests erupted in the valley areas, which are inhabited by Meiteis. The Meitei groups also formed a Joint Action Committee against the killings and called a 48-hour strike which received a strong response in Imphal and adjoining areas on 20 and 21 January.
Meira Paibis, a term used to describe Meitei women collectives in the state, enforced the strike by blocking several highways leading to the state’s hill districts. Speaking to ThePrint, many vented their ire at the CM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. While Modi has not visited Manipur even once since the outbreak of the violence, Shah spent four days in the state in May 2023.
“If he (Singh) wants, he can bring the situation under control. But for that, he needs to be more assertive when dealing with the Centre and empower the Manipur Police commandos. He has to show willpower. Merely saying that he loves Manipur and will defend it at any cost will not cut ice anymore,” said a member of the JAC on the condition of anonymity.
In Imphal, top Meitei civil servants too share the sentiment that the state government is not doing enough to protect members of the community. Speaking to The Print, a senior Home Department official said, “The violence could have been brought under control within days. And it’s been eight months now. This is incomprehensible. I feel sad for the future generation of this state.”
Geographically, Manipur is divided into hill and valley areas. While the Meitei-dominated Imphal valley occupies the central region, the southern hills are primarily inhabited by the Kuki tribes, and the northern hills are home to the Nagas.
The state has been on the boil since 3 May, 2023, when decades of simmering ethnic tensions between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities erupted into full-fledged violence. Over 200 people have been killed in the sporadic violence and tensions since, while 50,000 have been displaced.
Also Read: Extortion cases rise again in Imphal; businessmen, govt employees, farmers queue up for arms licence
‘CM should head unified command’
Imphal has been abuzz the past week with speculations that Biren Singh was planning to tender his resignation. Last June, the CM went back on his decision to quit amid high drama after women, who lined up outside his residence, tore up his resignation letter. The CM had then said he would not step down at this “crucial juncture”.
This time, however, not many are willing to believe that Biren Singh is serious about giving up the CM’s post. Th Sujata, the convenor of Imagi Meira (a woman’s organisation), reportedly told a press conference Sunday that “the CM should desist from enacting the resignation drama”.
There is an impression among the Meitei groups that the CM has been evading accountability on the ground that the unified command is headed not by him but by former Indian Police Service and ex-director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Kuldiep Singh, demands for whose resignation has been growing by the day.
In June last year — nearly a month after violence broke out in the state — the central government appointed Kuldiep Singh, the state’s security advisory, as the head of an inter-agency unified command for coordination among various security agencies while dealing with the violence.
“The CM needs to chair the unified command so that he is fully responsible for what is happening,” COCOMI spokesperson Kh Athouba told ThePrint. Many BJP MLAs, including state minister Govindas Konthoujam, have also voiced similar demands.
“The unified command should be headed by a person who knows the state and its nuances,” Konthoujam told reporters.
Meanwhile, local newspapers published from Imphal have been unsparing of Kuldiep Singh, who had been appointed security adviser to the state government on 4 May, a day after the violence erupted, and whom many view as the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government’s agent in the state. For instance, the state’s largest circulated daily, The Sangai Express, has published two editorials on the topic over the past week.
In its 20 January editorial titled ‘A politician in the making’, the newspaper said: “A man hand-picked by Delhi just one day after Manipur went up in flames on 3 May, 2023, it is more than clear that Kuldiep Singh is here not so much as the security adviser to the Government of Manipur, but an emissary sent by the Centre to do as bade by the political leaders of Delhi”.
This was after another editorial on 18 January questioned both Kuldeip Singh’s and the Narendra Modi government’s stand in the light of the Moreh attacks. Titled ‘What are the feedbacks to Delhi? Note the aggression’, the editorial said, “Why is Delhi dragging its feet on the matter? What is the feedback that Delhi is receiving from its man Friday, Security Advisor to the Government of Manipur, Kuldiep Singh? These are not spur of the moment questions, but points being raised by looking at the reality, the reality of what is happening at Moreh and what has been happening at the border town since the last few days of December 2023.”
The editorial questioned Kuldeip Singh’s tackling of the situation, especially in light of the disputed claims concerning the involvement of foreign insurgents operating out of Myanmar. On 2 January — two days after an attack at a Manipur police post in Moreh Turelwangma Leikai — CM Biren Singh had alleged that the involvement of foreign insurgents was likely in the attacks on security forces.
But Kuldiep Singh told ThePrint that despite the presence of intelligence inputs about their presence, no evidence has been found to establish such claims so far.
“It is obvious that Delhi has also preferred to look the other way, refusing to toe the line of Chief Minister N. Biren, a man who Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave a clean chit, underlining his point with the words, ‘The Chief Minister is co-operative’,” the editorial said on the subject, adding that it was a “case of Delhi and Imphal talking in two tongues”.
The subject of the alleged involvement of foreign insurgents operating out of Myanmar is of concern among Meitei groups. Sources told ThePrint that during CM’s meeting with a group of ruling party legislators Sunday, many MLAs expressed their “disappointment” with the way the Kuki militants were being tackled.
“Some MLAs pointed out that state police commandos are sitting ducks as Kuki militants are equipped with advanced weapons they have sourced from across the border. But the chairman of the unified command maintains that there is no evidence to establish the involvement of foreign militants,” the source said.
BJP MLA Lourembam Rameshwor is also among the ones to have voiced resentment with the state and the Union government’s handling of the conflict. Addressing a public meeting last Thursday, he said that the government should be “held accountable for its failure in carrying out its duties”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: 7 killed in 48 hrs — protest in Imphal, air assets in Moreh amid fresh spell of violence in Manipur