One Year Later, the Uncertainty Persists: Revisiting Biren’s Staged Resignation Drama to Save His Chair

Since N. Biren Singh became the chief minister of Manipur in 2017, his chair has always been shaking due to the rebel MLAs’ attempt to replace him. During his first stint, as many as 15 BJP MLAs out of 21 were not in favour of Biren’s chief-ministership. In the end, these rebel MLAs failed to topple his ministry, but they were able to exert strong pressure on both the central and state BJP leadership about their intention to replace Biren with a more capable and accommodative leader at the helm.

During his second term in office, which began sometime in May 2022, the threat seemed lesser, but it continued to haunt him. The pressure has become more obvious since the outbreak of the current ethnic turmoil on May 3, 2023.

While the Kukis are unanimous in their stand against the continuation of Biren as chief minister, there is a division of opinion within his own community. Half of the population thinks he is no longer fit to hold the post due to his misadventures and communal policies that have practically destabilized the fabric of Manipuri society in the last 13 months.

A quarter of the remaining half believes he should be allowed to handle the mess he created till the end. Dr. Homen Thangjam, in an interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, said that a horse pulling a cart should not be replaced in the middle of the river. Others, like Brinda Thounaojam, former MPS officer, and Dr. RK Ranjan, former Lok Sabha MP and Union Minister of State, are also deadly against his style of [mis]governance.

However, people like Dr. Bimol Akoijam have taken the absence of governance as an opportunity without directly attacking the chief minister, though critical minds can read between the lines, and became the MP. The remaining quarter, constituting mainly the radicalized section within the Meitei society who are either indoctrinated with xenophobic mentality against the Kukis or are vulnerable enough to believe propaganda and fake news propagated by Meitei media and social media handles, are behind him.

As the evil design of the chief minister and his cohorts are consistently exposed, his deceitful nature will no longer hold water in the long run, as it is based on lies, hatred, and opportunistic agendas. 

In the last couple of weeks, the chief minister has been summoned to New Delhi at least twice. The interesting  part was that when he really wanted to meet the Union  Home Minister, he was not given an appointment. Amit  Shah was his Godfather since day one and has been solidly behind him.

To make things worse for him, there are reports that the rebel MLAs are camping in the national capital.  And A. Sharda Devi, the state president of BJP, met the Union Home Minister, whom the chief minister could not meet even with the help of his partner in  the ongoing crime against humanity and political ally  Himanta Biswa Sarma when he needed the most. 

The silence of the President of India on Manipur Crisis in  her address to the Parliament also came under severe attack from the Congress, the main opposition party in  the country. The Congress had notably won both the  Lok Sabha seats in Manipur (Inner and Outer) recently,  a feat achieved by an opposition party for the first time. 

The manner in which both the newly elected MPs  mentioned Manipur, albeit in different ways, while  taking their oath of office in Parliament, has opened  the eyes of many who were blinded by the communal  game played by Biren and his militias.

Now, people in  Imphal are asking themselves whether the two MPs  had a better idea about their beloved home state than  Biren as it unravels his hollow portrayal as the champion of the Meiteis’ cause. Biren had often claimed that his  party is the only party that can defend the territorial Interest of the state. 

Now that his chair is under serious threat of facing  a tsunami-like rebellion, he has openly laid down  terms and conditions to the central government  in an interview with a national media house,  The Print. The terms and conditions put forth by  Biren for the BJP leadership at the centre include  deporting illegal ‘migrants’ with 1961 as the base  year, scrapping the Free Movement Regime or  FMR between India and Myanmar (which the  Nagas, Mizos, and Kukis have been opposing), and  border fencing. Is it ironic that a BJP chief minister is trying to dictate the central leadership in case  there is a plan to replace him? 

When he was asked to contest the Lok Sabha  elections, it was a golden opportunity given to him for a graceful exit. Now that he has made one of his own ministers, and a potential future chief minister, a sacrificial lamb, he has no option but  to face the consequences of a situation he himself created.

For the Kukis and the broader Zo ethnic  communities, Biren has become a persona non  grata. Theirs is separation from the xenophobic  Meiteis whose favourite slogan has been to “Kill  all the Kukis”, and whose favourite pastime is to  destroy or loot properties belonging to the Kukis. 

Let the sane Meiteis decide the future of their  society! Whether Biren continues to rule the Imphal  Valley or not, political separation from them is the only aspiration left. The Kukis will live for it, or die  in the fight for their dignity and survival!

Written by Anthony Shongthu.

(Courtesy: KSO Bulletin, Thingkho le Malcha, Issue No. 273, 1 July 2024).