Vandals targeted BJP offices in Singjamei and Thongju, also in Imphal East. While the attempt in Singmajei was foiled, there was damage to BJP’s Thongju office.
Senior police officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that mobs in Imphal tried to attack the residence of Manipur BJP president A Sharda Devi in Porompat, but were repelled by personnel of the army, paramilitary forces and Rapid Action Force. Vandals targeted the BJP offices in Singjamei and Thongju, also in Imphal East. While the attempt in Singmajei was foiled, there was damage to the BJP’s Thongju office.
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“There was also an attempt to loot arms from the Iringbam police station in Imphal West on Friday night that was also prevented by security forces. In all of these incidents, two people have been injured in Imphal,” a senior police officer said.
On Friday, Union minister RK Ranjan Singh, shocked by the arson in his home, had admitted to a “total failure of law and order in Manipur”.
“The existing (state) government hasn’t been able to maintain peace despite the central government sending a lot of protection,” Ranjan said. In the violence on Thursday night, two protesters and one Rapid Action Force personnel were injured.
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Meanwhile, a sedition case has been registered against a state politician for writing an opinion piece in an Imphal-based newspaper accusing the Assam Rifles of being responsible for the present crisis.The case against Jagat Thoudam, an adviser to a political outfit called Indigenous Peoples Front of Manipur (IPFM), on charges of sedition and promoting enmity between different groups was lodged on June 12 in Imphal West district by Inspector General, Assam Rifles (South).
From the beginning of May, Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic clashes, triggered by an order by the Manipur high court that had recommended to the government that the Meiteis, the dominant community in Manipur with 53% of the population, be included in the scheduled tribe list. This caused protests among the tribal population, particularly the Kukis, and tensions led to clashes that were first concentrated in Meitei dominated Imphal Valley and districts in the hills like Churachandpur that have a heavy tribal population, but soon spread across the state.
In three violent days between May 3 and 6, there was a wave of attacks and arson with people fleeing from their homes, and the army called in to control the situation. Since then, however, in a sign of the simmering tension within, sporadic violence has continued, with 115 dead, over 310 injured, and over 40,000 displaced from their homes.
A feature of the violence that has besieged the state, symbolic of the complete breakdown of law and order, is a series of attacks on the homes of politicians. On Wednesday, the official residence of Nemcha Kipgen, a cabinet minister in the N Biren Singh government in Manipur was burned down by unidentified miscreants. Kipgen, the BJP MLA from Kangpokpi, is the industry minister of the state and the only woman in the Manipur cabinet.
On May 4, BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte was injured in an attack by a mob in Imphal, and is currently undergoing treatment in Delhi. On May 24, BJP MLA and cabinet minister Govindas Konthoujam’s house was vandalised by a mob in Imphal and a day later another mob tried to attack the residence of another state minister, T Biswajit Singh, in Imphal.
The violence in the state of Manipur shows no signs of stopping. Innocent people are being killed, essential commodities are unavailable, and there is no internet, resulting in widespread suffering. We, leaders of 10 like-minded political parties, have arrived in Delhi to secure an appointment with PM Modi, BUT he appears unconcerned about the issues plaguing Manipur,” the Congress’s Manipur unit president Meghachandra K said.
There were no reactions from the BJP on the latest incidents of violence.
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