New Delhi: A day before the Manipur assembly was scheduled to convene, chief minister N. Biren Singh submitted his resignation to the governor on Sunday (February 9).
This comes amid mounting political pressure, with the opposition demanding a floor test for his government in Monday’s session.
Biren Singh met Union home minister Amit Shah today for about 15 minutes before he left for Imphal to tender his resignation while being accompanied by the BJP’s northeast in-charge Sambit Patra and state party president A. Sharada Devi.
Party sources said at least 14 BJP MLAs were with Singh when he met Shah in Delhi. Some Naga People’s Front (NPF) MLAs were present too, sources added.
For nearly two years, both the Kuki and Meitei communities have called for Biren Singh’s resignation, holding him responsible for the ongoing ethnic violence that began on May 3, 2023.
The conflict has claimed over 250 lives, displaced more than 60,000 people, and left villages, churches and hospitals in ruins.
Sources told The Wire that while Singh has tendered his resignation, this does not necessarily mean he is stepping down immediately.
Governor Ajay Bhalla has reportedly asked him to continue as caretaker chief minister until a new government is formed.
Bhalla has also reportedly declared ‘null and void’ the order issued last month summoning the assembly’s upcoming session, which means it will not convene as scheduled.
In his letter of resignation addressed to Bhalla, Biren Singh asked the Union government to “maintain the territorial integrity of Manipur which has a rich and diverse civilisational history over thousands of years”.
He also requested a crackdown “on border infiltration”, for the formulation of a policy to deport “illegal immigrants”, and “to continue the fight against drugs and narco-terrorism”.
Speaking to The Wire, Congress leader Keisham Meghachandra said, “The people of Manipur have been waiting for this day. Finally, both sides can be satisfied, as this demand has come from both the Meitei and Kuki communities.”
When asked – before Bhalla’s notification nullifying the assembly’s summons – whether the Congress would still demand that the Biren Singh government prove its majority in Monday’s assembly session, Meghachandra had responded, “Now that he has resigned, we need to discuss the next step with our senior leadership before deciding our course of action.”
Rebellion within Manipur BJP grew after apex court proceedings in audio tapes case
Hours after the Supreme Court last Monday (February 3) granted advocate general Tushar Mehta’s plea seeking to have the audio tape purportedly of Biren Singh authenticated by a government lab by the next hearing in the case, the rebellion within the Manipur unit of the ruling BJP grew.
It raised the fear within the BJP’s national leadership that several party MLAs would tacitly support the opposition Congress’s move to seek a floor test of the Biren Singh government when the assembly session would start this Monday.
In the last five days, three top leaders of the party’s Manipur unit, including Y. Khemchand and speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh, were summoned by Shah to Delhi for closed-door meetings. Biren Singh too was asked to reach Delhi.
Upon their return, when local reporters asked Khemchand at the Imphal airport whether a decision had been taken to remove Biren Singh, he refused to comment but did not deny it, adding to the speculation that New Delhi had finally taken a call on the chief minister.
A senior state BJP leader told The Wire, “Till the last minute, Singh tried hard to convince the national leadership to keep him, but he failed to get the adequate support from party MLAs.
“He even tried to portray to the media that his position was safe by visiting the Kumbh Mela with some of his trusted MLAs. But the axe finally fell on him.”
Asked if Khemchand would likely replace Singh as chief minister, the senior leader refused to comment, saying, “Let’s wait. You will know very soon.”
Before the assembly session was deferred, the Sangai Express reported that the NPF – which is part of the government in Manipur – would support the BJP in the event of a no-confidence motion, while the National People’s Party – which revoked its support to Biren Singh’s government in November – decided to remain neutral.
Truth Lab organisation found 93% match between voice in tapes and Biren Singh’s voice
On February 3, the Truth Lab organisation that was engaged to verify the authenticity of the aforementioned audio tape, which has been submitted to a judicial commission and has brought Biren Singh’s role in the Manipur ethnic violence under scrutiny, told the Supreme Court that it found a 93% match between the voice and Biren Singh’s.
The Wire has produced a series of the reports on the audio recordings. Read the five-part ‘Manipur Tapes’ reports of The Wire here: 1, 2,3,4 and 5.
The Union government asked for three weeks’ time to have the audio verified by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, a request that the apex court granted. The matter is scheduled to be heard in the court next on March 24.
Speaking to The Wire, H.S. Benjamin Mate, chairman of the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights (KOHUR), the petitioner in the Supreme Court case seeking an independent probe into the audio tapes, said: “Biren Singh’s resignation is just half the battle won. KOHUR will not rest until he is prosecuted for the crimes he has committed against the minority Kuki-Zo community.”
Also read: Ten Things That Emerged Out of a Year of Violence in Manipur
Segregation between the Meiteis and Kukis reached near-complete levels after the violence and the two communities are physically separated by buffer zones patrolled by security forces.
According to Ginza Vualzong, a leader of the Kuki-Zo Council umbrella body that recently sent a delegation to meet with officials of the Union home ministry, the controversy surrounding the audio tapes played a key role in Biren Singh’s resignation.
“I believe he knew he would be voted out in the no-confidence motion in the Manipur assembly. To save face, he must have submitted his resignation,” he said.
He added, “With his leaked audio tape now being taken up by the Supreme Court, I guess this time even the BJP government can’t do much to protect him.”
Resignation like ‘shutting stable door after horse has bolted’
Congress MP and the party’s secretary-in-charge for communications, Jairam Ramesh, said that Biren Singh’s resignation was “belated”.
“The people of Manipur now await a visit by our Frequent Flier PM who is off to France and the USA now – and who has found neither the time nor the inclination to go to Manipur these past twenty months,” Ramesh said on X, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, who are also the leaders of opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively, wrote on X that “mounting public pressure” along with the Supreme Court proceedings and the Conrgess’s impending no-confidence motion led to Biren Singh’s resignation.
“The resignation of BJP’s Manipur CM is like ‘shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted’,” Kharge also said.
