'MLAs' Homes Are Being Burned, Ransacked'

'One of our MLA's homes has already been attacked by the mob. This legislator was beaten. This MLA belongs to the Meitei community.'
'There is a complete collapse of law and order in Manipur.'

National People's Party National Secretary in-charge of political affairs and its 4-Kshetrigao MLA Sheikh Noorul Hassan tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com that the N Biren Singh government could possibly face a rebellion and if a floor test were to be taken, the chief minister will not muster enough support even from his own party MLAs.

NPP leader and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma in a letter written to BJP national President J P Nadda announced his party's withdrawal of support to the N Biren Singh government. With seven MLAs in the Manipur assemblyt, the NPP was the second biggest ally of the N Biren Singh government.

This development is unlikely to have any impact on the stability of the Manipur government as the Bharatiya Janata Party itself has 32 MLAs in the 60-member House.

"Prime Minister (Modi) must visit Manipur once. If he appeals to both the communities, then I believe personally that the general masses will believe that definitely there will be a concrete roadmap (by the central government) to help resolve the matter at the earliest," says Hassan.

Why has the NPP withdrawn support to the Biren Singh government?

In the last one week the law and order situation has further deteriorated and it has become worst.

Six persons including two infants were abducted by armed Kuki militants and their dead bodies were recovered from a river. The Manipur government couldn't protect the lives of innocents in the state.

In the last 18 months, under the leadership of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the state government has completely failed and we could not see any roadmap ahead to bring the state back to normalcy and peace.

Law and order has gone for a toss and so we have to withdraw support; we have lost confidence in his (N Biren Singh's) leadership.

The law and order situation has deteriorated in the state since May 2023. Hasn't the NPP's withdrawal come too late and will it have any impact on the government in Manipur? What is the NPP trying to prove by withdrawal of support?

It is not too late because we have been cooperating with the state government as well as the central government (for restoring normalcy in the state) hoping that peace and normalcy will return to the state at the earliest.

We had met with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah twice. We have submitted a memorandum to him and the prime minister of India (Narendra Modi) to take whatever steps to bring back normalcy in the state.

We could not see any positive outcome and in the last one week we have seen the law and order has further deteriorated and the killing of two infants should be condemned in the strongest manner.

Seeing a huge public outcry and loss of confidence of the people in the chief minister we were left with no option but to withdraw support and express our deepest sense of respect and pay our homage to the dead.

We, as legislators, are also under public scrutiny.

We no more believe that the chief minister should continue to head the government.

Do you think the chief minister should resign?

He must step down because I don't think all the BJP MLAs will attend the meeting that he has called because he could not secure the lives and properties of the innocent, general public as well as the that of his own MLAs.

He has lost trust of the people of Manipur and so he must step down.

BJP MLA L Susindro Singh told Rediff.com that all the seven NPP MLAs don't agree with Conrad Sangma's decision to withdraw support. Is this true?

He is making a contradictory statement just to sow confusion in the minds of the people of Manipur.

We are an independent national political party and once the decision is taken at the highest level then we all follow. We are united and we have already withdrawn (support) because the letter of withdrawal has already gone to the governor (Lakshman Prasad Acharya), the speaker (Thokchom Satyabrata Singh) as well as to the chief minister.

But will it impact Biren Singh's government in Manipur?

Technically they have numbers, but practically they don't have numbers.

Many MLAs' houses are being attacked by Meiteis who are angry after the death of these six people including two infants. What's the situation in your constituency and also in other constituencies where violence is taking place?
The Manipur cabinet has asked for withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Protection Act from the jurisdiction of six police stations in Manipur. Do you agree with this demand?

We should not look these two things together. Imposition of AFSPA in six police stations should not be mixed with what has been going on in Manipur for the last 18 months.

The law and order situation has already been in a very bad shape and there was no concrete step taken by the chief minister or the state government whatsoever.

The steps taken by the central government has also not bore any fruit; there was no positive impact or outcome. It was not reaching to the general public.

Imposing AFSPA in six police stations has nothing to do with the present scenario. By doing this the central government has ensured that no violence takes place between people of the hills and the valley.

This will stop armed people (from both communities) to fire at each other and provoke retaliatory violence and kill each other.

AFSPA will help control violence and bring some normalcy.

Do you welcome the imposition of AFSPA in the six police stations in Manipur?

The state government at an emergency cabinet meeting took this decision asking for withdrawal of AFSPA but that decision was not taken collectively; many of Biren Singh's cabinet ministers were absent when this meeting was held.

The opinions (on imposition of AFSPA) may differ from one (person) to another, but the problem is that we are not looking at things from a proper perspective.

We want peace and normalcy to return to Manipur at the earliest which the present chief minister has completely failed to do so. He has no roadmap. There is no plan in his hand.

He has already lost the trust of the public and at the same time the trust of his alliance partners.

There is a rebellion brewing among the BJP MLAs also; I don't think he is getting the support of the majority BJP MLAs.

Do you think because of this rebellion the Biren Singh government will collapse?

If a floor test (a vote of confidence on the floor of the House) is taken tomorrow, then I don't think that under his leadership the government can stand.

The need of the hour is a change of leadership or any other appropriate thing that the central BJP leadership feels will bring peace and normalcy to Manipur. That will be most welcome.

At the same time Prime Minister (Modi) must visit Manipur once.

If he appeals to both the communities, then I believe personally that the general masses will believe that definitely there will be a concrete roadmap (by the central government) to help resolve the matter at the earliest.

Did the NPP MLAs withdraw support because they also feared that mobs might attack their home as huge anger sweeps across the Meiteis in Manipur?

One of our MLA's homes has already been attacked by the mob. This legislator was beaten. It was never reported in what you call mainstream media. This MLA belongs to the Meitei community.

Houses of MLAs are being burned down and ransacked. There is a complete collapse of law and order in Manipur.