Rising People’s Party (RPP) has demanded the resignation of Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh and imposition of President’s Rule so that all those responsible for the atrocities could be booked and prosecuted.
In a press release, RPP stated that Singh’s credibility had been tarnished beyond repair and no amount of peace building would restore the sense of normalcy under his watch.
Pinning the blame for the ethnic clash between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki tribals squarely on the chief minister, RPP cited an Outlook article of July 9, 2021 that quoted him saying “All lands belong to the state government.”
With this exclusive statement, the party said Singh had showed that he was simply the chief minister of Imphal Valley. It also accused of later dehumanising the Kukis as poppy cultivators and drug warlords, besides branding the entire community as illegal immigrants. RPP asserted that the poppy argument given by Singh was fallacious given that poppy was also cultivated in Naga-inhabited districts.
RPP pointed out that the Nagas too were under the ATSUM banner, now spearheading the movement against inclusion of the Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribes list, and that the Naga-majority districts of Ukhrul, Senapati, Chandel and Tamenlong had participated in the ATSUM rally held on May 3. Whereas only the Kukis were targeted, it added.
Stating that riots were chaotic, RPP said the burning question in everyone’s mind was how come the Kukis were so quickly identified by the mobs for surgical strikes in densely-populated Imphal valley, while terming the riots as an anti-Kuki pogrom.
For one, the RPP alleged that the chief minister did nothing after the riots started on May 3, at least for the next 24 hours, when mobs in Imphal valley started targeting Kuki homes and churches. Rather, citing reports, the party accused Manipur Police commandoes of aiding the mobs by doing nothing when the dwellings of the Kukis were being burnt down.
Not surprisingly, the party pointed out that DGP P Doungel of Kuki ethnicity was relinquished of all authority on May 4 and the overall operational command of the police was handed over to ADGP Ashutosh Sinha, also reporting to security adviser Kuldiep Singh. It claimed that no reasons were given for scapegoating Doungel.
Further, the RPP also condemned the ‘Christian Kuki Vs Hindu Meitei’ narrative of the riots and the propaganda allegedly fed by Hindi-speaking narrators that the Christians were slaughtering Hindus in Manipur, clarifying that nothing could be further from the truth.
