One Year Later, the Uncertainity 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 has 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 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 aspirations left. The Kukis will live for it, or die in the fight for their dignity and survival!