Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh Stays Firm, Refuses To Resign Amidst Local Support
Imphal, 30th June 2023:Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has clarified that he will not step down from his position despite a significant display of support from the locals. Earlier reports had suggested that Biren Singh intended to submit his resignation to the Governor.
According to a local daily, The Sangai Express, Biren Singh was expected to tender his resignation today. The report stated that he was given the choice to either resign or face intervention from the central government. However, in response to the report, a group of women congregated outside the Manipur Chief Minister’s secretariat and Raj Bhavan, urging Biren Singh not to resign.
The women requested that the Chief Minister adopt a resolute stance against the troublemakers instead, as per news agency PTI.
Manipur has recently witnessed fresh incidents of violence, wherein three individuals lost their lives during an exchange of gunfire between security forces and suspected rioters.
Calls for the central government’s involvement in Manipur have been persistently made by protesters and political parties for several weeks. A month ago, members of Manipur’s Kuki community appealed to the Central government to restore normalcy in the state, citing a loss of faith in the chief minister.
In June, nine BJP legislators from Manipur also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing a complete loss of faith in the N Biren Singh-led government as perceived by the people of the state.
The ongoing ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur have resulted in more than 100 fatalities thus far. The outbreak of violence began on May 3 after the coordination of a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ in the hill districts.
The march was a response to the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, which faced strong opposition from the tribal Kuki community. Since then, the clashes between these two groups have intensified.
