“After careful consideration of the current conflagration, the continued support for the incumbent government of Manipur led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh is no longer fructuous. Accordingly, the support of the KPA to the Government of Manipur is hereby withdrawn and can be considered null and void,” said the letter forwarded to state Governor Anusuiya Uikey.
TFM Report
Kuki People’s Alliance (KPA) on Sunday announced the withdrawal of its support from the N Biren Singh government in Manipur.
In a letter to Governor Anusuiya Uikey, KPA president Tongmang Haokip stated that the party’s decision to sever ties with the BJP-led government in Manipur, where ethnic violence since the last three months has claimed more than 160 lives.
“After careful consideration of the current conflagration, the continued support for the incumbent government of Manipur led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh is no longer fructuous.
“Accordingly, the support of the KPA to the Government of Manipur is hereby withdrawn and can be considered null and void,” Haokip said in the letter.
In the 60-member House, the KPA has two MLAs – Kimneo Haokip Hangshing from Saikul and Chinlunthang from Singhat.
It may be mentioned that the two MLAs were part of the team comprising of ten MLAs that included five from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who labelled a serious allegation that the widespread violence was “perpetrated by the majority Meitei community and was tacitly supported by the BJP-run state government. “As the state of Manipur has miserably failed to protect us, we seek from the Union of India a separate administration under the constitution of India and live peacefully as neighbours with the state of Manipur,” the MLAs said on May 12 in a statement considered as an embarrassment to the N Biren Singh led state government.
The MLAs are Haokholet Kipgen, Ngursanglur Sanate, Kimneo Haokip Hangshing, Letpao Haokip, LM Khaute, Letzamang Haokip, Chinlunthang, Paolienlal Haokip, Nemcha Kipgen and Vungjagin Valte. All of them belonging to the Chin-Kuki-Zo hill tribes. Of these, Chinlunthang and Hangshing belong to the Kuki People’s Alliance and the rest to the BJP, JD (U) and one Independent. So in a sense, this could be read as a fight within the BJP and its supporters in Manipur. The statement of the MLAs further alleged that the violence against their communities has “already partitioned the state and effected a total separation from the State of Manipur”.