Biren no longer the person of yester years, says Cong MLA recalling 'IRB' Days
Ranjit takes pot shots at Chief Minister
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 30 2023: Nongthombam Biren is no longer his former self who had a conviction to protect Manipur; the primary concern of today's Nongthombam Biren is saving the Chief Minister's chair for himself, asserted Congress Legislature Party (CLP) deputy leader and Sugnu AC MLA K Ranjit.

Commenting on the Government's failure to bring a solution to the six months old violent crisis and Chief Minister N Biren's claim that the war was fought to protect the Meitei community, Ranjit said that N Biren used to love Manipur a lot when he served as a Cabinet Minister under the O Ibobi-Government.

But Chief Minister N Biren is longer the N Biren of the past who loved Manipur.

N Biren of today is bereft of any courage or valour, Ranjit alleged.

Ranjit takes pot shots at Chief Minister

Nothing is more surprising than the claim that the recent 'war' was fought to protect Manipur, the Congress MLA remarked before pointing out that a large number of Meitei houses were burnt down while tens of thousands of Meiteis have been displaced from their homes.

Moreover many students are still missing and many Meitei women have been raped, he added.

"At one point of time, we were so close that the then Government was even known as IRB (Ibobi-Ranjit-Biren) Government", Ranjit said.

The way Chief Minister N Biren has been handling the issue does not reflect any love or empathy for Manipur.

This is completely contradictory to the Heingang Biren of the past who had the spirit and courage to sacrifice even his own life for the cause of Manipur, he said.

The first comment Chief Minister Biren made on the violent crisis was intelligence failure and this is a fact.

Even if the violent conflict had erupted due to intelligence failure, it could have been contained within the next couple of days if the State Government had deployed its 42,000-strong security forces at those places where Kuki and Meitei settled side by side, the Congress MLA asserted.

It was the State's failure to protect citizens and their properties which compelled youngsters who had little idea of guns till then to loot weapons and go to battlefronts to fight Kuki militants, he said .

In the course of battling the Kuki militants, many youngsters were killed and a large number of them sustained injuries.

With the State now in total anarchy, the future of Manipur looks quite uncertain, he continued.

It is a matter of utter shame that Chief Minister N Biren has been claiming that the war is fought to protect Meiteis while he failed miserably to maintain law and order, Ranjit remarked.

Even though the violent crisis is completing six months next week, N Biren as the Chief Minister of the State has not yet bothered to hold a meeting with the Prime Minister on the crisis.

This cannot be interpreted as indication of any intention to protect Manipur, he asserted.

He went on to question as to why a BJP Chief Minister is unable to secure an appointment with the BJP Prime Minister.

Whereas 60,000 to 70,000 people have been suffering extreme misery in relief camps, N Biren is concentrating all his efforts in saving his chair.

Alleging that N Biren is only dancing to the tune of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Ranjit said that the people of Manipur now need the courage and spirit of N Biren of the past who pledged at the Sahid Minar to protect Manipur under all circumstances, Ranjit said.

"The five Congress MLAs worked at their best level to bring a solution to the protracted crisis and sought an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the latter never accepted our request," he continued.

The BJP Government at the Centre is so arrogant that it did not give any appointment to even the BJP and other ruling MLAs from Manipur for a meeting with the Prime Minister even though they camped at Delhi for several weeks, said the Congress MLA.

He asked how many of the major drug seizure cases have been handed over to the CBI and how many drug lords have been arrested since 2017 till date.

The true character of N Biren was exposed before the whole world by his own resignation drama, the CLP deputy leader asserted.

On being enquired about BJP Manipur Pradesh president A Sharda's assertion that renaming of Thangjing as Thangting and clubbing of four Gram Panchayat areas with Kangpokpi ADC by the Congress Government contributed to the violent conflict, Ranjit said that ADC elections were held in Charhajare, Kalapahar and Tulibari etc till 1984 .

An ADC Delimitation Committee was formed in 2008 and the committee recommended that the four Gram Panchayat areas of Imphal West should be clubbed with ADC as ADC elections were held at these places in the past too.

Subsequently, the four Gram Panchayat areas were brought under ADC in 2010, Ranjit said.

It was Nepali MLA Kishore Thappa elected from Kangpokpi AC who brought the four areas/village under Gram Panchayat at a time when ADC elections were not held for a long time, he explained.

The previous Congress Government led by O Ibobi never tried to rename Thangjing but a new sub-division called Thangting was created with the primary objective of uplifting the backward areas of Henglep AC, the Congress MLA clarified.

In the meantime, a rumour was doing rounds that Thangjing had been renamed as Thangting.

Subsequently, the Ibobi Government renamed the newly created sub-division of Thangting as Kangvai sub-division, Ranjit said.

It is unfortunate that the BJP State unit president was making all kinds of wild allegations against Congress party in her attempt to divert public attention from the real issue, he added.