After 21 months of opposition from Kuki-Zo leaders, waning popularity in the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley, calls for resignation from the Opposition, withdrawal of support by a key NDA partner, it was pressure from unhappy colleagues in the Valley that finally led to N Biren Singh’s resignation as Manipur Chief Minister on Sunday.
Kuki-Zo groups and 10 MLAs from the community – these include seven BJP MLAs, two of them ministers – have held Singh responsible for the ethnic conflict in the state which began on May 3, 2023.
Rumblings within his own ranks began to grow loud last year and have since intensified. BJP MLAs from the Valley have queued up before the party’s central leadership over the months, including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in October 2024, seeking replacement of the CM. The BJP leadership, however, continued to back Singh.
The turning point appeared to be the Budget session of the Manipur Assembly that was set to begin Monday. With their appeals for a leadership change going unheard, dissident MLAs prepared to take an “unprecedented and drastic move” during the session and back a no-confidence motion that the Congress said it was likely to move.
As the divide between Singh’s loyalists in the party and the dissidents deepened, the two groups began camping separately by Sunday morning as the Assembly session approached, sources said.
The wheels had begun to turn when Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh, one of the CM’s critics, visited New Delhi last week and met BJP president J P Nadda. Satyabrata Singh, insiders said, told Nadda about the no-confidence motion. According to a source, when he was asked if the introduction of a no-confidence motion could be averted, the Speaker said he would not be able to stop it.
On February 3, Manipur Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh, another known critic of Biren Singh, reached New Delhi. He was said to have warned the BJP leadership that the government would likely collapse if the CM was not replaced. Governor A K Bhalla met Union Home Minister What Shah on February 4 to apprise him of the situation.
Why the BJP leadership gave in
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On February 5, Biren Singh travelled to New Delhi and, according to insiders, was unable to meet the Home Minister. Following this, he and some ministers loyal to him headed to the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.
In the face of intensifying pressure and the Assembly session nearing, Biren Singh flew to New Delhi again on Saturday. He met Shah and Nadda on Sunday and after a two-hour discussion it was decided that he would have to step down, sources said.
“Everything has a time, place and a situation. Yes, we have been pushing this for long but the MLAs decided not to wait anymore. We have the majority of the MLAs on our side, from the BJP, the NPF (Naga People’s Front), and the NPP (National People’s Party),” said one of the BJP MLAs who pushed for Biren Singh’s resignation. The NPP and the NPF are BJP allies.
BJP sources also said the Centre recently initiated a series of steps to increase border security and control the law and order situation. The appointment of Bhalla, a former Union Home Secretary, as Governor and a complete overhaul of the bureaucracy were part of those efforts.
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“A no-confidence motion and the fall of the government would have derailed these attempts. The national leadership did not want these efforts to be overshadowed either. The spectacular win in Delhi has just given them more confidence to take such a step,” a BJP source said.
For the BJP leadership, the Supreme Court’s move to seek a sealed-cover report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory also raised question marks about the viability of allowing the CM to continue, party sources said. The laboratory is examining “leaked audio tapes” that allegedly point to Biren Singh’s role in fuelling the ethnic conflict. Based on the tapes, the petitioner, Kuki Organization for Human Rights Trust, has sought an independent investigation into Singh’s alleged role in the violence that has left more than 200 people dead.
Even though the BJP leadership had continued to support Biren Singh as CM, his leadership came to be seen as a liability by his party colleagues opposed to him.
The collapse of trust in the state BJP government was reflected in the Lok Sabha elections last year when the NDA lost both the seats in Manipur, which it had held earlier, to the Congress. The rumblings of discontent grew strong in November when the homes of MLAs and ministers, including Biren Singh, were targeted and vandalised by angry mobs following the abduction and killing of six Meitei women and children.
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At the time, NPP president Conrad announced that the party, which had seven MLAs then, would no longer support the Biren Singh government, specifically pointing to his “leadership failure”.
