New Delhi: Reacting to The Wire’s Manipur Tapes exposé, all the ten MLAs of the state’s Kuki community, nine of whom belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have demanded that the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Union Home Ministry to investigate the 2023 ethnic conflict “must expedite its process”, and that N. Biren Singh “be immediately debarred from the office of the chief minister so that he is prevented from intervening the outcome of the probe against him.”
In a press note released on August 21 evening, the ten MLAs – Haokholet Kipgen, Nemcha Kipgen, Paolienlal Haokip, Leitzamang Haokip, Letpao Haokip, Ngursanglur Sanate, L M Khaute and Vungzagin Valte who belong to the BJP, and Chinlunthang and Kin Haokip Hangshing who belong to the Kuki People’s Alliance (KPA) – said, “The complicity of the CM in the state-sponsored ethnic cleansing, which we have always maintained since day one (of the conflict), has now been established buying an iota of doubt.”
KPA, an ally of the Biren Singh government, had withdrew its support in August 2023 to it due to the ethnic conflict.
Following the ethnic violence between the Kukis and the Meiteis, these MLAs had been skipping a number of sessions of the state assembly to press for the demand that the Centre fulfil their cry for ‘a separate administration’ for Kukis. Since the conflict broke out, the state has been virtually separated into two on ethnic lines, forcing people from the hill districts to stay away from the valley districts including accessing the state’s only airport at Imphal. Those from the valley areas are unable to go to the hill areas of the state for fear of violence.
The press release said, “The CM can be clearly heard reassuring his audience, which from his tone and tenor can safely be assumed to be members of his militia, that they (central agencies) have to arrest him first before any of them, and that they should not promptly show up when summoned to give him time to intervene.”
The Wire’s exposé is based on audio tapes submitted to the Commission headed by the former Chief Justice (retired) of the Gauhati high court, Ajai Lamba. The deponent/s have disclosed their identity to the Commission, and have claimed that they recorded the tapes at a meeting held some time last year with the chief minister at his official residence in Imphal. They have claimed that the voice heard in the tapes is of chief minister N. Biren Singh.
The deponent/s have been granted confidentiality by the Commission keeping in mind their safety. This is why The Wire has withheld all details of the meeting in its report.
Part 1: Manipur Tapes Submitted to Commission: Did Biren Singh Authorise Use of ‘Bombs’ in the State, in Defiance of Amit Shah?
Part 2: ‘Where’s the Proof They Were Raped?’, Biren Allegedly Says of Kuki Women Paraded Naked, ‘Reward Those Arrested for Saving Them’
Part 3: ‘I Started Operations’: Biren Singh Allegedly Claims Credit for Conflict, ‘Kukis Filling Up Govt Posts Through ST Quota’
The August 21 press note of the MLAs says, “The tapes also reveal how the Union Home Minister (UHM) had chastised him for authorising the use of bombs on civilians, and how after the UHM had left (Manipur), he had instructed the police top brass to use bombs clandestinely going forward, defying the UHM’s directions.”
Union home minister Amit Shah had visited the state in end May, 2023, about three weeks after the ethnic conflict broke out. In August 2023, Shah had rejected the opposition’s demand for the resignation of the chief minister on his failure to maintain law and order in the state, and claimed that he “is cooperating” with the Centre.
Thousands of arms and ammunition from the state armoury were also looted during the conflict, most of which have still not been recovered. Referring to it, the press note said, “The chief minister also can be heard boasting before his minions as to how he ensured that nobody is arrested in connection with the looting of 4000-5000 arms and ammunitions from the state forces. He can also be heard appealing; that Kukis can throw abuses at him, and rightly so because he had caused the death of about 300 of them, and that metes should not throw abuses at him”.
Though the chief minister stayed away from responding to the questions sent to him by The Wire prior to publishing the reports, have since called the audio tapes “doctored” and termed the reports as “anti-national” activities aimed at derailing the preaching process between the Kukis and the Meiteis.
However, the MLAs, reacting to that claim, have added in the press note, “Confirming the authenticity of the tapes, Rajendro Nong, brother to chief minister N Biren Singh, can be seen threatening those who sold out such sensitive tapes to others on Facebook.”
The Kuki MLAs also “once again” appealed to the central government “to expedite” their “demand for separate administration in the form of UT (Union territory) with legislature, as that alone is the path to lasting peace in the region”.
