GUWAHATI: Manipur CM N Biren Singh’s defiance of repeated resignation calls over his handling of the ethnic conflict raging there since May 2023 ended Sunday when he put in his papers on eve of the assembly’s budget session, and a possible no-trust motion by Congress against the BJP-led government.
Governor A K Bhalla accepted Biren’s resignation and asked him to continue “till alternative arrangements”. Late Sunday, the governor’s secretariat notified that its Jan order summoning the assembly session stands “null and void” with immediate effect.
The buzz around his resignation grew after Biren flew to Delhi, his second trip in a week, late Saturday. After a lengthy meeting with home minister Amit Shah on Sunday – BJP chief J P Nadda was also present – he returned to Imphal along with BJP’s Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra.
Governor change hinted at Biren power shift
The closest that Biren had come to stepping down before this was on June 30, 2023, when a crowd of supporters, most of them Meitei women, waylaid his convoy en route to Raj Bhavan. An elderly woman then dramatically snatched his resignation letter and tore it to shreds.
Over the next 19-odd months, the footballer-turned-politician would brave mounting pressure from within and outside BJP to quit as Manipur vacillated between violence and short-lived calm.
As fissures within BJP deepened over the continuing conflict, Biren found himself in an increasingly vulnerable position.
Last Nov, majority of BJP legislators, including those from the Meitei community, abstained from an emergency meeting convened by him to assess the situation in the wake of more violence attributed to tribal militants. Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma’s NPP, a BJP ally, withdrew support to govt specifically over Biren’s handling of the conflict. Sangma said his party would reassess its stand if there was a change at the helm.
In Manipur’s 60-strong assembly, NDA bloc consists of 37 BJP legislators, six from NPP, five of NPF, one from JD(U) and three Independents. Congress has five MLAs and Kuki People’s Alliance two. One seat fell vacant with the NPP incumbent’s death.
The first signs of Biren’s position getting weaker came after Bhalla, a former Union home secretary, was appointed governor last Dec. Speculation about a change intensified last week with talk of a no-trust move.
In his resignation to the governor, Singh said, “It has been an honour to serve the people of Manipur thus far. I am extremely grateful to central govt for time actions, interventions, developmental work and implementation of various projects for safeguarding the interests of every single Manipuri.”