The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday (August 20) called for Manipur chief minister N.Biren Singh’s resignation in the light of The Wire’s three-part ‘Manipur Tapes’ series on an audio file provided to the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs to inquire into the Manipur violence.
The Wire was informed by the purported maker/s of the 48-minute recording that it was done in person at a meeting where the chief minister unmistakably indicated his partisan complicity in the ongoing civil war that has been raging in Manipur since May 3, 2023.
The recording, which the Manipur government claims is ‘doctored’, carries the purported voice of Singh saying he supported the use of lethally destructive ammunition – 51 mm mortar bombs – in parts of the state last year. The voice claimed as the CM’s can be heard saying that he had shielded Meitei “village guards” who had “snatched” thousands of arms from the state police armoury from arrest. It also suggests an attempt to play down the fact that members of the mob could clearly be seen groping two Kuki women in a viral video, as they led them away naked.
The voice claimed by the maker/s of the recording to be that of Biren Singh can also be heard taking credit for “how and why the conflict started”.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh, in a video statement, said that the tapes suggest that the ongoing violence in Manipur is state sponsored.
“Manipur chief minister must resign and he must be asked about the truth behind these statements,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
“What is the work of a chief minister? If there is a disagreement between two communities and there is a state of violence, it is his job to stop this violence.
Read the Manipur Tapes reports here, here and here.
“Are these revelations not enough to prove that the violence in Manipur was state sponsored, government sponsored and chief minister sponsored? And that the centre was complicit by not raising any questions including from the prime minister. These questions must be asked from the government. Everyone must raise their voice against the revelations in these tapes and ask questions from the government.”
The AAP also held a press conference on Tuesday, demanding that the Manipur chief minister be dismissed, and accountability is set.
Addressing the press conference, AAP’s chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said that the Union home ministry and the Manipur chief minister must provide answers.
“Why is Biren Singh still the chief minister, why is he not being removed? What was the cooperation with Delhi that he is not being removed. It has been over a year and violence has not stopped in Manipur. Biren Singh and his government need to be dismissed and accountability needs to be set,” she said.
“Such a chief minister who is asking for bombs to be thrown, is our country safe in such guidance? Are our daughters safe under such people who say rapists must be awarded? He says this in the audio that we helped the women and clothed them. It is extremely shameful and questions must be asked and accountability must be set.”
Also, on Tuesday, opposition parties including the Congress, RJD and the TMC demanded an investigation into the revelations made on the tapes and asked for the central government in Delhi to “wake up” to the crisis in Manipur.
