Cong posers on Govt aid to SoO group
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: January 13, 2025 -

REGARDLESS of chief minister N Biren and other BJP central leaders holding the erstwhile Congress government accountable for the present crisis besieging the state with the assertion that the suspension of operation (SoO) was signed by the then regime, the Congress party has fired yet another salvo against the present government, accusing it of extending financial assistance to the Hmar People's Convention-Democratic (HPC-D), one of the armed outfits bound by the SoO pact, in defiance of the government's own decision to pull out from the pact aimed at settling the Kuki political issue.

In his address to beneficiaries of the 'Special Scheme for Providing Financial Assistance for Education of Children of Labour Card Holders staying in Relief Camps' on January 8, the chief minister had claimed that the violence, which broke out on May 3, 2023, was due to the demand by the Meetei/Meitei community for granting Scheduled Tribe status, and deplored the opposition parties of politicising the issue with the ulterior motive to vilify the government.

"Everybody has been criticising the state government as if we had made a mistake," N Biren had stated, with the apparent-aim to negate consistent censuring of his government by the opposition parties, while claiming that the BJP-led coalition has been striving for the development of the society and welfare of the people.

Declaring government's firm resolve to stand for the indigenous people and the future generations, he called on all those who lack the courage to defend the land and its people, and who do not hesitate to 'sell off' their sisters and daughters, to refrain from engaging in politics.

Days after the chief minister's scathing remarks, apparently aimed at diluting the slew of rebukes by the opposition leaders, who continue to demand resignation of N Biren on moral ground vis-a-vis the suffering of the people, Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president K Meghachandra on Saturday contended that the BJP-led coalition government has been fuelling the crisis.

Alleging that the ethnic clash is being abetted by the government through the home department's release of Rs 6.27 crore to the HPC-D on July 9, 2024, the Congress MLA elaborated that transfer of the said sum to the bank accounts of two HPC-D leaders on July 9, 2024 violated the very guidelines framed by the government that release of stipend of the SoO cadres should be through the Aadhaar linked bank accounts of the cadres concerned.

Among other, procedural lapses and discrepancies, Meghachandra also pointed out that the said amount released by the union home ministry, was transferred to accounts of the HPC-D leaders after the state cabinet had already resolved to withdraw from the tripartite pact.

While it is obvious that charges and counter-charges between the government and the opposition will continue till amicable settlement of the crisis, if any, the MPCC chief's claims expose helplessness of the state government to enforce own decision to pull out from the SoO agreement without the approval of the union government.

In short, the cabinet resolution shall have no bearing on the SoO pact if the state government cannot convince the centre to abrogate the said deal without furnishing hard evidences about the Kuki outfits' involvement in the violence.