N Biren Singh’s resignation as the Chief Minister of Manipur, 21 months after the ongoing Meitei-Kuki ethnic conflict erupted in May 2023, is belated. The needle has finally moved in Manipur — Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla has accepted his resignation and asked him to continue in office until “alternative arrangements” are made, an outcome starkly different from June 2023, when Singh’s resignation letter was torn up by supporters outside his residence. While Singh’s removal had long been a key demand of the Kuki-Zo-Hmar groups, the Centre let him continue in the hot seat. By all accounts, he could not stave off the pressure from some of his own party’s MLAs eventually.
His decision to quit comes only five days after the Supreme Court ordered a central forensic lab to analyse audio tapes, purportedly connecting the dots between Singh and the ethnic violence that convulsed his state. Singh may have seen the writing on the wall, but with no clear consensus on a successor, the Centre may be left with no choice but to impose President’s Rule amid the uncertainty. It must know, however, that it has no time to lose in firming up a plan for Manipur, the state cannot be adrift.
At least 250 have died and 60,000 displaced, who continue to languish in more than 350 relief camps, because of the ethnic violence that Singh’s government failed to bring to an end. He abdicated his responsibility to resolve the conflict, and failed to present himself as a fair and impartial chief minister committed to the welfare of all Manipuris. Now he leaves behind a state that has been re-militarised after years of attempting to move away from insurgency. In a recent statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs acknowledged that the deteriorating situation in Manipur has contributed to a rise in insurgency across the Northeast. In this context, Singh’s departure is a necessary step for a new start, serving as an implicit admission of the state government’s failure despite the presence of thousands of central security forces.
The crucial question now is who will take charge and how they will address the ongoing conflict. The BJP leadership must carefully select a successor capable of bringing all sides back to the negotiating table. Regardless of who takes over, however, there are significant structural challenges. The immediate priority must be demilitarisation, including the swift disarmament of insurgent groups to prevent further violence. Thousands of looted arms and ammunition, still unaccounted for, must be recovered. The larger goal, moreover, is to restore the lost trust between the Meiteis and Kukis. Ethnic conflict cannot be resolved through force. The fault lines that existed before May 2023 have, over the past 21 months, deepened to the extent that neither Meiteis nor Kukis can venture outside their respective zones of dominance. True normalcy will not be achieved merely when the violence subsides, but when members of both communities can return home and live without fear or prejudice.
