Violence continues in Manipur; BJP and Congress offices vandalised

Imphal: The NPP on Sunday withdrew support from the BJP-led government in Manipur, even as violence continued to rock the state as offices of the Congress and the saffron party were ransacked in the hill district of Jiribam where an unidentified body was found earlier in the day, officials said.

A BJP MLA’s ancestral house was vandalised in Imphal Valley while a building owned by Ashab Uddin, the Independent legislator of Jiribam, was ransacked, officials said.

The incidents occurred a day after irate mobs set fire to the residences of three BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley where an indefinite curfew has been clamped.

Security forces also foiled the attempt of the agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday evening.

The National People's Party (NPP) which has seven MLAs in the 60-member assembly, on Sunday withdrew support from the BJP-led government in Manipur, claiming that the N Biren Singh dispensation has "completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy" in the northeastern state.

The withdrawal of support, however, would not have any impact on the BJP government, as the saffron party enjoys absolute majority with its 32 MLAs. The saffron camp has also the support of five MLAs of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and 6 JD(U) legislators.

In the last few days, the situation in Manipur further deteriorated and many more innocent lives have been lost and people in the state are "going through immense suffering", the NPP claimed in a letter to BJP president J P Nadda.

"We strongly feel that the Manipur state government under the leadership of Shri Biren Singh has completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy. Keeping the current situation in mind, the National People's Party has decided to withdraw its support to the Biren Singh government in state of Manipur with immediate effect," the letter read.

Notably, the Kuki People's Alliance (KPA), a political party formed ahead of the 2022 Manipur election, had earlier withdrawn support from the BJP-led government in the state in view of ethnic violence.

The Congress currently has five MLAs, and there are three independent in the House. Manipur has seen a fresh wave of protests after six people went missing from a camp for displaced persons in Jiribam on Monday, following a gunfight between armed men and security forces that resulted in the deaths of 10 Kuki youths.

On Sunday, the bodies of two persons, believed to be among the six missing people from Jiribam, were found floating in the Barak river in neighbouring Cachar district of Assam.

Two days ago, the bodies of three persons, also from the same group, were found floating in the Jiri river in Jiribum and brought to Silchar Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem examinations.

According to senior police officer officers of Assam, bodies of five missing persons have been found so far.

On Saturday, police officials in Silchar had claimed that the bodies of all six missing people had been recovered and sent to Silchar Medical College Hospital (SMCH) for post-mortem examinations.

Track the latest updates on the Manipur crisis, here.

On Sunday evening, offices of the Congress, BJP and a house belonging to Jiribam’s Independent MLA were ransacked by a group of agitators. They brought furniture, papers and other things out of the buildings and made a bonfire out of them in front of the houses, officials said.

Earlier in the day, the body of an unidentified man was found near Jiribam town and it is now kept in the district hospital, they said.

In the valley district of Imphal West, another mob vandalised the ancestral house of BJP MLA Kongkham Robindro in the evening, police said.

The incident occurred a day after a house built by the legislator himself in the same district was attacked.

Meanwhile, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a key organisation of the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur, on Sunday said their volunteers will have to arm themselves to protect their land and families until "armed Meitei groups are reined in".

Issuing a statement, the Kuki-Zo body urged the Centre to control the situation by nabbing the "Meitei militants" or else the majority community will have to face "more forceful retaliation".

"Until the armed Meitei groups are reined in, violence in the state will not stop. Kuki-Zo volunteers have no choice but to arm themselves to protect their land and their families," it added.

Security forces have intensified patrolling in parts of Imphal and increased deployment at many of the residences of legislators as well as all major roads leading to the secretariat, state BJP headquarters and Raj Bhavan.

Curfew was imposed for an indefinite period in Imphal East and West, Bishnupur, Thoubal and Kakching districts of Imphal Valley "due to developing law and order situation", he said.

The state administration suspended internet services in seven districts.

More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kukis in Manipur since May last year.