Four days after N Biren Singh resigned as Chief Minister, the Centre Thursday announced that President’s rule had been imposed in Manipur and the state assembly placed under suspended animation. This closes a chapter and opens another in the state roiled by ethnic violence since May 2023.
President Droupadi Murmu’s decision, announced hours after the two Houses of Parliament adjourned to meet again on March 10 for the remainder of the Budget session, followed a report from Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla.
Before President’s rule was imposed, a security plan was prepared and the state police and intelligence agencies were monitoring movements of certain individuals to prevent any untoward incident.
The BJP-led government in the state collapsed on February 9 when Chief Minister Biren Singh resigned, shortly after returning to Imphal from New Delhi where he held talks with Union Home Minister What Shah and BJP President Jp NADDA.
Accepting Singh’s resignation, the Governor issued a notification nixing the Assembly session by declaring the January order summoning the House on February 10 “null and void”.
Earlier, the Congress had threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against Singh and his government during the Assembly session.
In the Manipur House of 60 – Assembly elections in the state are not due until 2027 – the current strength was 59 following the death of NPP MLA N Kayisii last month.
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Of the 59 legislators, 37 were from BJP, 6 from NPP, 5 from NPF, 5 from Congress, 2 from Kuki People’s Alliance, one from JDU and three independents. Both KPA and NPP, which were part of the government, had withdrawn support after the violence. At least 2 NPP MLAs continued to back Biren Singh even after the party formally withdrew its support.
In a notification issued Thursday evening, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan said the President had received a report from the Governor “and after considering the report and other information received by me, I (the President) am satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of that State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India”.
“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 356 of the Constitution, and of all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I hereby proclaim that I: assume to myself as President of India all functions of the Government of Manipur and all powers vested in or exercisable by the Governor of that State, and declare that the powers of the legislature of the said State will be exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament,” the notification stated.
The announcement of President’s Rule comes after three days of meetings led by the BJP’s Northeast coordination Sambit Patra in Imphal with BJP MLAs and NDA allies — Naga People’s Front and the National People’s Party — through which the effort was reportedly to arrive at a consensus CM candidate to succeed Biren Singh.
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However, The Indian Express had reported that it was possible that the Centre would impose President’s Rule if the party could not reach a consensus soon. An MLA had suggested that a period of President’s Rule has also been supported to enable an extensive crackdown on armed groups in both the hills and the valley.
The BJP has 37 out 60 MLAs in Manipur and its allies NPF and NPP have six and seven MLAs respectively.
The Manipur Congress, meanwhile, had been opposing the implementation of President’s Rule in the state.
“They have realised that there was a completely failed state under N Biren Singh and that the state was completely destroyed in the past 20 months. The Constitution and the people’s mandate is not being respected,” said Congress President K. Meghachandra Singh.
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Kuki-Zo groups, which had been calling for President’s Rule in the state, said they welcomed the move.
“The President’s Rule is more preferable than a change of CM. The Kuki-Zo do not trust Meitei anymore, so a new Meitei CM is still far from comforting. President’s Rule will give a ray of hope to the Kuki-Zo, and we believe that it will be one step closer to our political solution. With the President’s Rule, I believe the groundwork to end violence will begin, which will pave the way for a conducive environment for political dialogue,” said Ginza Vualzong, spokesperson of ITLF, a Kuki-Zo group based in Churachandpur.
