‘Union treating Manipur as its fiefdom’, says new MP Bimol Akoijam on CM’s absence at Delhi meet

Manipur Congress MP criticizes Union government for treating Manipur as a non-entity, raising concerns about Chief Minister's submissiveness.

Newly-elected Manipur Congress MP A. Bimol Akoijam on Monday (June 17) said the Union government was “treating Manipur as a non-entity” and as its own “fiefdom” “as if there is no State government there”. He was reacting to the fact that Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had not been invited for the security review meeting chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Monday.

In addition to the Union government coming under suspicion among some populations of the State, this also raises questions about the Chief Minister’s “submissiveness”, Mr. Akoijam said. It was “intriguing” that the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police were there but not the Chief Minister, he said.

“For the security review meeting of a territory like Jammu and Kashmir, it was seen that the Lieutenant General was present at the meeting. Insofar as there is a State government, law and order is a State subject. It appears as if the Union government is treating Manipur like a non-entity. The State is being run as some sort of a fiefdom of the Union government,” Mr. Akoijam told The Hindu, adding, “The rest of the country should take note — this is just the Union government flexing its muscles”. 

This came even as the Delhi Meitei Coordinating Committee — a conglomerate of various Meitei CSOs — passed a resolution on Sunday, calling for the Chief Minister of Manipur to resign along with his Cabinet, if they are unable to take control of the situation.

Several Meitei civil society leaders told The Hindu that the Chief Minister’s absence in Monday’s meeting was “yet another sign” that the crisis in Manipur was directly being controlled by the Union government’s Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi. Further, Kuki-Zo civil society leaders in Manipur argued that Mr. Singh’s absence cemented the message that the Centre does not think he is “capable” of handling the crisis.

Mr. Akoijam said the Chief Minister’s absence from the meeting on Monday was “adding to the feeling on the ground that the CM is operating under the thumb of the Union government”. “This brings us back to the basic question I have been asking from Day 1 – Who is in charge of law and order in Manipur,” the Inner Manipur MP-elect said.

The DMCC, in its resolution also questioned Mr. Singh’s promise to visit the people of Jiribam in the light of the recent spate of the violence in the district, declaring that he had not been able to make it to the district yet. Three days after the violence broke out on June 6, an Advance Security Team of the Chief Minister was ambushed on its way to Jiribam ahead of the Chief Minister’s planned visit there.