CM Biren Singh Meets Amit Shah In Delhi Day After All-Party Meet On Manipur Violence

Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh met Union home minister Amit Shah at the latter’s residence in New Delhi on Sunday afternoon to discuss the present situation in the violence-hit northeastern state.

This is Singh’s first visit to the national capital since ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur between Meitei and Kuki communities on May 3 in which over 100 people have been killed so far and over 40,000 displaced.

The meeting took place a day after Shah held an all-party meeting in Delhi on the Manipur crisis and amid demands by opposition parties seeking Singh’s removal and imposition of President’s Rule in the state.

“Called on Hon’ble Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah ji in New Delhi today and briefed about the evolving situation on the ground in Manipur. Under Amit Shah Ji’s close supervision, the State and Central Govt have been able to control the violence to a great extent in the past week,” Singh wrote on Twitter.

“It may be noted that there has been no report of casualties due to the violence since the 13th of June. Hon’ble Union HM assured that the central government will take all possible steps to bring normalcy in Manipur,” Singh stated.

In the meeting, Singh mentioned that Shah urged him to strengthen work towards achieving everlasting peace and also sought the cooperation of every stakeholder in Manipur to ensure that peace prevails in the state.

The CM was joined during his meeting with Shah by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Sambit Patra, Leishemba Sanajaoba, the titular king of Manipur and BJP Rajya Sabha MP from the state and assembly Speaker T Satyabrata Singh.

An all-party meeting was convened by the Union home minister in New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the prevailing situation in Manipur in which the opposition leaders criticised the Manipur CM’s handling of the crisis and demanded that he be ‘removed’ as the chief minister.

Shah had visited the state for four days last month and met a cross-section of people in his efforts to bring back peace in the northeastern state.

In the meeting, Shah on Saturday urged representatives of 18 political parties to have faith in him as the Centre is monitoring and taking steps to restore normalcy in Manipur

In another development, citing security concerns and spread of rumours the Manipur government on Sunday extended the ongoing ban on internet services in the state, which started on May 3, by another five days to June 30.

Since May 3, at least 115 people have been killed, more than 300 injured and over 40,000 displaced by the ethnic clashes which were triggered by a proposal to grant scheduled tribe (ST) status to Meiteis, who comprise nearly 53% of the state’s total population.