Manipur CM's resignation belated, people now await visit by frequent-flier PM: Congress

The Congress on Sunday termed N. Biren Singh's resignation from the post of Manipur chief minister as "belated" and said people of the state were now awaiting a visit by "our frequent-flier Prime Minister" Narendra Modi.

The Opposition party's attack came shortly after Singh tendered his resignation to governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla at the Raj Bhavan in state capital Imphal.

Congress MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said the party's state unit was all set to move a no-confidence motion against Singh and his council of ministers in the Manipur assembly on Monday.

"Sensing the climate, the Manipur chief minister has just resigned. This was a demand that the Congress has been making since early May 2023, when Manipur erupted," Ramesh said in a post on X. "The chief minister's resignation was belated. The people of Manipur now await a visit by our frequent-flier prime minister who is off to France and the US now -- and who has found neither the time nor the inclination to go to Manipur these past 20 months."

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Rae Bareli Congress MP Rahul Gandhi wrote: "For nearly two years, BJP's CM Biren Singh instigated division in Manipur. PM Modi allowed him to continue despite the violence, loss of life, and the destruction of the idea of India in Manipur. The resignation of CM Biren Singh shows that mounting public pressure, the SC investigation and the no-confidence motion by the Congress have forced a reckoning."

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge added in an X post: The resignation of BJP’s Manipur CM is like ‘shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted’! It is painful to say that for 21 months, the BJP ignited a fire in Manipur and left the people, across communities to fend for themselves. Their rank incompetence and utter disregard for Rajdharma resulted in at least 258 people having died, more than 5,600 arms & 6.5 lakh rounds of ammunition were looted from police armouries, more than 60,000 people displaced and thousands still forced to live in relief camps."

Singh's resignation came hours after he returned from Delhi, where he met Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda.

In a letter to the governor, he said, "It has been an honour to serve the people of Manipur thus far. I am extremely grateful to the central government for time actions, interventions, developmental work and implementation of various projects for safeguarding the interests of every single Manipuri.

"My sincere request to the central government through your good office is to continue with the same. I take the opportunity to enumerate the most important ones of them ... To maintain the territorial integrity of Manipur which has a rich and diverse civilisational history over thousands of years."

Singh also requested the Centre to continue the "crackdown on border infiltration and to formulate policy for the deportation of the illegal immigrants and the fight against drugs and narco terrorism".

He urged the Central government "to continue the stringent and fool-proof revised mechanism of Free Movement Regime with the biometric being stringently applied time bound and faster border which is underway".

On Saturday, Singh convened a meeting with BJP-led ruling alliance MLAs at the state secretariat. The meeting was held in the wake of the Opposition Congress seeking to move a no-confidence motion against the government.

More than 250 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless since ethnic violence broke out between Meiteis and Kukis in the state in May 2023.