In strife-torn Manipur, where two communities have been on a warpath with each other, the most vociferous demand from the Opposition has been to remove chief minister Biren Singh for failing to control the violence. However, seen from another perspective, not removing Singh from his chair may have been a prudent step.
This could have helped in not flaring up matters further as the Meitei community had come out on the streets to stop Singh from voluntarily tendering his resignation a couple of months ago — even tearing up his resignation letter. The Centre’s step to stick with Singh has helped in not causing a ‘reaction’ from the Meitei side, especially at a time when the chief minister, in his official statements, has always spoken about ‘brotherhood’ in the state and had told News18 earlier that both the communities were dear to him.
The view amongst some in the BJP is that those in the Opposition who want Singh removed in fact want Manipur to be in turmoil for many more months. Some party functionaries also feel that if imposing President Rule in the state would have brought peace, the Centre would have done the same earlier. But the real roots of the tussle and the mistrust go deep and the priority of the Centre is to restore trust and confidence between both the communities. Removing the chief minister may have well put back that process.
The powers of the chief minister are also in a way being shared now by the unified command set up by the Centre of the various paramilitary forces and the army and the Centre — in a way — is in charge of the situation with the CM in the loop.
Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament on Wednesday made it clear that Singh will not be removed as he had “cooperated with the Centre” and allowed the DGP and the Chief Secretary of the state to be changed. The view is that since Singh has not objected to Centre’s changes in the administrative set-up, he is part of the solution, not the problem.
The Centre, however, should make sure that it acts against Singh if any evidence of bias is found against him during the course of the turmoil. So far, prima facie, the Centre does not seem to have found any such evidence that Singh had favoured any one community during the strife between the Meiteis and the Kukis. The roots of the strife lie in the Manipur High Court order asking for implementation of ST status for the Meiteis and the influx from Myanmar post 2021, as Shah told Parliament on Wednesday.
Sticking to Biren Singh as the chief minister is hence a prudent step for now.
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