Manipur: CM Biren Singh Resigns Two Years After Ethnic Strife Broke Out

Hours after CM Biren Singh resigned, Manipur Governor called off the Assembly session scheduled for Monday.

Guwahati: A day ahead of a scheduled session of the Manipur legislative assembly, Chief Minister N Biren Singh has tendered his resignation to the state Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Sunday. Following the CM's resignation, the Governor declared the Assembly session null and void.

Biren Singh's resignation came on Sunday, nearly two years after the bloody violence between the Meiteis and Kukis broke out in the state on May 3, 2023, which has so far left over 250 people from both communities dead and over 65,000 people displaced.

The governor accepted the resignation of Biren Singh and has asked him to continue till alternative arrangements are made.

It may be mentioned here that a cabinet meeting held last month decided to convene a session of the Manipur legislative assembly from February 10, 2025.

In the resignation letter submitted to the Governor, Biren Singh said, "I am extremely grateful to the central government for timely actions, interventions, developmental works and implementation of various projects for safeguarding the interest of every single Manipuri. My sincere request to the central government through your good office is to continue with the same.

Biren Singh's letter

In his letter, Biren Singh also listed five "most important' tasks for the central government which include maintaining the territorial integrity of Manipur which has a rich and diverse civilizational history over thousands of years, cracking down on border infiltration and formulating a policy for the deportation of the illegal immigrants, to continue the fight against drugs and narco-terrorism, to continue the stringent and fool-proof revised mechanism of FMR with the biometric being stringently applied, time-bound and faster border which is underway."

The Manipur Chief Minister was in Delhi for the last three days and met top BJP leadership including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda etc. Singh also took a holy dip in the Mahakumbh Mela at Prayagraj.

On Sunday, accompanied by State BJP President A Sharda and 14 MLAs belonging to the BJP and NPF, Biren Singh handed over his resignation to the governor.

Biren Singh handed in his resignation hours after he returned from Delhi. His resignation comes ahead of the upcoming assembly session beginning February 10.

Amit Shah's meetings

A few days ago, BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah held separate meetings with Biren Singh and six sitting MLAs in New Delhi to prevent any threat to their party government in the violence-battered northeastern state. Amit Shah began these deliberations following information about the opposition’s alleged move to table a no-confidence motion against the Biren Singh-led BJP government in the troubled State.

There has been a rising discontent among the BJP MLAs in the 60-member Manipur Assembly against the leadership of Biren Singh. Against this backdrop, several contenders for the CM post including Th. Biswajit was among those with whom Amit Shah held the deliberations recently.

Pressure mounting on Biren Singh

Pressure has been mounting on Biren Singh for resignation for his failure to handle the violence which has left the whole state divided on ethnic lines.

While at least 19 legislators of the Manipur legislative assembly had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October last year seeking to replace Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the recent Supreme Court instruction order seeking the production of the report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory on the examination of certain audio tapes which allegedly recorded the statements to Manipur CM Biren Singh suggesting his involvement in the State's ethnic violence have also put the pressure on the Chief Minister.

It may be mentioned here that the National Peoples' Party (NPP), a partner of the BJP-led government in Manipur, had also withdrawn support from the BJP in November last year. While the NPP has remained a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, the party has withdrawn its support from the BJP government in Manipur owing to the BJP-led government, particularly the Chief Minister N Biren Singh's alleged failure to handle the crisis in Manipur.

Opposition leader Ibobi Singh

Earlier this week, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Okram Ibobi Singh urged Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla to advise CM Biren Singh to refrain from intimidating members of the state Assembly. Ibobi Singh complained to Bhalla that Biren Singh threatened some MLAs not to join the no-confidence motion, during a function last month.

Reacting to the development, a spokesperson from the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) said that resignation was the last option left with the BJP government. “Biren Singh knew that he would be voted out in the no-confidence vote in the Manipur Assembly, and to save his face, he must have submitted his resignation. Also, with the audio tape leaked being taken up by the Supreme Court, even the BJP central leadership can’t do much to save him,” the ITLF spokesperson said.

Ever since the ethnic conflict between Kukis and Meeteis broke out in May 2023, several organisations have been demanding the resignation of Biren Singh.

Manipur Violence-A Timeline

• 
  27.03.2023: Then acting Chief Justice M V Muralidharan issues an order asking the state government to consider recommending the inclusion of the Meitei community in the state’s ST list. This acted as the trigger for the explosion of ethnic violence.
• 
  28.04.2023:The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) calls for a total shutdown against the government.
• 
  03.05.2023:Violence erupts in Imphal and Kuki-dominated districts, during the tribal solidarity march against HC order on Meitei status. The Manipur government suspended mobile internet services across the state for the next five days and clamped curfew in eight districts after violence broke out during a " Tribal Solidarity March" called by a Tribal students union to protest against the demand of Meiteis for ST status.
• 
  04.05.2023: BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte was attacked by a mob in Imphal. About 9000 people were evacuated. " There are an approximate 5000 in Churachandpur , 2000 in Imphal and 2000 at Moreh.
• 
  04.05.2023:Army is deployed as violence escalates, Governor gives shoot-at sight order amid escalating violence.
• 
  07.05.2023:Army evacuates over 25,000 affected by the protests.
• 
  08.05.2023: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that 60 Innocent lives were lost and over 200 wounded in the ethnic clashes in the state, that displaced 35,000 people. while around 1700 houses burned down, and 1041 weapons and 7460 rounds of ammunition looted from police armouries. 50 companies of CAPF, 105 columns of Army and Assam rifles deployed at various locations. The Supreme court asked the Manipur government to proactively provide relief, rehabilitation and medical help to violence affected people.
• 
  17.05.2023:Supreme Court takes strong note on Manipur HC directive on Meitei ST Status.
• 
  29.05.2023:HM Amit shah reaches Manipur on a 3 day visit. Meets KUKI MLAs, civil society organisations. Visits Imphal, trouble-torn Kangpokpi and other districts.
• 
  03.06.2023:The Centre set up a three-member Commission of Inquiry, headed by former chief justice of the Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba, to probe the violence in Manipur.
• 
  04.06.2023:A wounded seven-Year-old boy of mixed Kuki- Meitei parentage burned to death along with his mother and another woman inside an ambulance taking him to hospital after it was waylaid and set ablaze by a mob in the Iroisemba area of Imphal.
• 
  09.06.2023:CBI takes over investigation of six cases pertaining to the violence that broke out in Manipur on May 03rd. Sets up 10 member Special, Investigation Team (SIT), to be led by a DIG- Level officer.
• 
  10.06.2023: Centre constitutes 51 Member peace committee under Manipur Guv and N Biren Singh as one of the members to broker peace among the various ethnic groups.
• 
  14.06.2023:Manipur lone women minister Nempha Kipgen's official residence in Imphal set on fire.
• 
  15.06.2023: Law and order situation continues to deteriorate MoS external affairs RK Ranjan' residence is burnt down.
• 
  17.06.2023:Armed mobs in Manipur target BJP politicians, houses and offices. A BJP mandal office in Imphal was burned down. Army and Rapid Action force foiled several attempts to set a fire BJP offices and houses of the party's Manipur chief and a state minister.
• 
  24.06.2023: A mob burned down a warehouse and a farmhouse of Manipur cabinet minister L Susindro at Kangla Sangomsang in Imphal East district.Two weeks before he hung a drop box outside his home for people to anonymously drop weapons looted from police.
• 
  26.06.2023:Manipur government invoked the "no Work no pay" rule against nearly 1 Lakh employees who have been away from work without authorised leave since violence erupted on May 03rd especially those from the hill districts posted in the valley and vice-versa.
• 
  29.06.2023:Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in restive Manipur to a montage of drama, confrontation and political bickering-police barricading a highway in Bishnupur to keep him from travelling by road to Churachandpur. Rahul took chopper to churachandpur after the standoff in Bishnupur.
• 
  06.07.2023:A mentally-ill Women was shot dead at point blank range ,by unidentified assailants in an Imphal neighbourhood. Another gruesome video came into limelight, of two young men who were reported missing being tortured and gunned down by suspected militants in neighbouring Kakching.
• 
  11.07.2023:The Manipur high court bar association informed the Supreme Court through an “official document” that huge infiltration of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and drug trafficking were the main reasons behind the violence in Manipur, a statement which the Centre appeared to support.
• 
  19.07.2023:A video clip of women being stripped and paraded by a mob in violence hit Manipur had surfaced on social media. More than two months after the incident, police said they had registered a case of gang-rape and abduction.
• 
  20.07.2023:Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his months-long silence after a video of two women being paraded naked and subjected to blatant acts of sexual assault by a group of men went viral. He said the incident shamed India and that no guilty will be spared.
• 
  22.07.2023:A freedom’s fighter’s 80-year-old widow was burnt alive in her home in Manipur on May 28, while an old video of a burnt woman resurfaced on social media, adding to the series of disturbing events unfolding in the strife-torn state.
• 
  25.07.2023:In an attempt to force PM Modi to speak on the Manipur strife that has brought the monsoon session to a standstill, opposition parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc decided to move a no-confidence motion against the BJP government, with focus on Manipur.
• 
  29.07.2023:A 21-member delegation of the opposition alliance INDIA visited relief camps in the conflict-hit town of Churachandpur and other places in Manipur and accused the BJP-led central government of being asleep while the state was engulfed in unrest since May 3.
  
• 31.07.2023:The Supreme Court said it needed a complete break-up of the “approximately 6,000 First Information Reports [FIRs]“ the Manipur government claimed to have registered during the ethnic clashes in the State, including cases of murder, rape, arson, crimes against women, burning of villages, homes and places of worship.
• 
  01.08.2023:The Manipur government’s status report on 6,523 FIRs points to an “absolute breakdown of the constitutional machinery” in the State since ethnic violence broke out at the beginning of May, the Supreme Court said.
  
• 04.08.2023:Manipur mob loots LMGs, mortars, grenades from IRB (2nd India Reserve Battalion (IRB) headquarters in Manipur’s Bishnupur ) 500-strong mob targeted the armoury, looting 298 rifles, SLRs and LMGs along with mortars, grenades, and 16,000-odd rounds of assorted ammunition.
  
• 05.08.2023:Six people were killed and 16 wounded by gun and mortar fire in one of the worst attacks and counter attacks between two groups in the growing ethnic strife in Manipur.
  
• 07.08.2023 : Kuki People's Alliance withdrew their support to the BJP government of the state led by N. Biren Singh.
  
• 08.08.2023: The Supreme Court appointed former Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar to be the “overall monitor” of a CBI probe into the instances of sexual violence in Manipur.
  
• 16.08.2023: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has constituted a team comprising 53 officials to probe multiple cases related to the incidents of violence in Manipur.
  
• 28.09.2023:A mob of over 500 youths, protesting against police action on earlier protests against the kidnapping and murder of Meitei youths Phijam Hemanjit and Luwangthoi Linthoingambi Hijam, tried to forcefully enter the private residence of the CM in Heingang, Imphal East.
  
• 20.12.2023:A mass burial is being held in Churachandpur, one of the hardest-hit districts in the ethnic violence that has gripped Manipur since May 3, for 87 people who were killed in the clashes.The 87 dead, all belonging to the Kuki Zo community, are finally being buried after spending close to eight months in morgues.
  
• 22.02.2024: The Manipur High Court modified its 2023 orderin which it recommended the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Meiteis community.
  
• 27.02.2024:Around 200 armed men stormed and ransacked the residence and kidnapped senior police official Moirangthem Amit singh the Imphal West Additional Superintendent of Police
  
• 13.04.2024: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said at an election rally in Imphal that the upcoming Lok Sabha election would be fought between “those talking of dividing Manipur” and “those holding it together”.
  
• 02.09.2024:Manipur witnessed two separate drone bomb attacks in the Koutruk and Senjam Chirang areas of Imphal West district by Kuki extremists in which at least two people died, including a woman, and 12 others were injured.
  
• 18.10.2024:As many as 19 BJP MLAs in Manipur have sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the removal of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
  
• 07.11.2024: The fresh conflict started after a 31-year-old woman teacher belonging to Hmar community was allegedly raped and burnt alive by suspected Meitei armed personnel in Jiribam.
  
• 22.11.2024:The state government's Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh informed that the ethnic violence that engulfed the state in May 2023 so far claimed 258 lives including militants.
  
• 03.02.2025:Manipur Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh, a known critic of Biren Singh, reached New Delhi. He was said to have warned the BJP leadership that the government was likely to collapse if the Chief Minister was not replaced.
  
• 07.02.2025: The Manipur Congress announced that it would move a no-confidence motion against the Biren Singh government on February 10.
  
• 09.02.2025 :Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh tendered his resignation nearly two years after ethnic violence erupted in the state.

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