New Delhi:
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his ongoing visit to Delhi. Mr Singh and PM Modi had discussed the situation in the state that was hit by massive ethnic violence last year, party sources told NDTV amid much speculation over the meeting.
Mr Singh is in Delhi for a special conclave of Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled states. But the short closed door session held in its sidelines , was specially scheduled to discuss the Centre and state’s plans and roadmap for a possible solution to the ongoing crisis. Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh were also present for the meeting, but no officials from the Centre or the state attended it, sources said, underscoring its exclusivity.
The meeting comes amid massive Opposition pressure on the BJP over the Prime Minister’s alleged silence on Manipur. Slogans of Manipur had rent Lok Sabha as the Opposition interrupted PM Modi’s speech on the Motion of Thanks following President Droupadi Murmu’s joint address for over two hours.
The BJP, though, has been especially focussed on Manipur after the two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state went to the Congress in the recent general election.
The meeting also comes on a day that Manipur governor Anusiya Uikey was removed and new Assam governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya was given additional charge of Manipur.
Over the last year, the clashes between the valley-dominant Meitei community and nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis — a term given by the British in colonial times — who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.
The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the nearly two dozen tribes that share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram, want a separate administrative carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.
