Imphal (AsiaNews) - In Manipur - the eastern Indian state that has been shaken by violence for almost two years - the head of the local government, Biren Singh, resigned yesterday. The move came after a meeting with Indian Federation Home Minister Amit Shah, which followed days of tension within the local leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to which Singh also belongs.
The threat of a no-confidence motion by the Manipur Legislative Assembly was now hanging over him, 21 months after the start of the ethnic violence that has caused over 250 deaths and several thousand displaced persons. A vote against by the local MPs had become a much more concrete possibility after the Indian Supreme Court in recent days had ordered a central forensic laboratory to prepare a report on some leaked audio recordings, in which a voice that would be Singh's claims that the clashes between Meitei and Kuki in the state were instigated by him.
In his letter announcing the step back, the Manipur Chief Minister said he was extremely grateful to the Central Government for its timely actions, interventions, development work and implementation of various projects to safeguard the interests of all in this area of India. He called on Delhi to continue its efforts to ‘maintain the territorial integrity of Manipur’, ‘crack down on border infiltration and formulate a policy of deporting illegal immigrants’, and ‘pursue the fight against drugs and narcoterrorism’ also through ‘faster and more timely border fencing’.
Opposition parties called Singh's resignation ‘belated’, the result of a ploy by the BJP to prevent his government from collapsing and out of fear of Supreme Court challenges. In a post on the social network X Rahul Gandhi accused the resigning local government chief of ‘instigating division in Manipur for two years’. ‘And Prime Minister Modi,’ he added, ‘allowed him to continue, despite the violence, loss of life and destruction of the idea of India in Manipur’.
The Kuki Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) group - which has been calling for Singh's resignation since the violence erupted - said its protest would continue if the demand for a separate administration for the areas inhabited by tribal groups was not granted. ‘He knew by now that he would be challenged in the Manipur Assembly vote,’ commented his spokesman Ginza Vualzong. ‘He only submitted his resignation to save face.
