N Biren Singh’s embattled tenure as Manipur’s leader minister got here to an finish on Sunday, February 9, 2025, as he resigned amid escalating interior birthday celebration discord and the looming danger of a no-confidence movement. The resignation, submitted to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on the Raj Bhavan in Imphal at roughly 5:30 PM, got here hours after an important conferences with Union House Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, marking a important juncture within the state’s extended ethnic disaster that has claimed over 250 lives since Might 2023.
The Governor has approved his resignation while soliciting for him to proceed as caretaker Leader Minister till choice preparations are made. His resignation comes amidst mounting drive from inside the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) state unit and forward of a deliberate no-confidence movement that the opposition Congress had introduced it will transfer within the meeting on Monday. The scheduled price range consultation has since been declared “null and void” via the Governor.
In his resignation letter, Singh expressed gratitude to the central executive, declaring, “It’s been an honour to serve the folks of Manipur so far. I’m extraordinarily thankful to the central executive for well timed movements, interventions, developmental paintings and implementation of more than a few initiatives for shielding the pursuits of each and every unmarried Manipuri.”
Chatting with Christian Lately veteran human rights activist and editor John Dayal stated, “Singh’s resignation comes after Manipur has burned for over 21 months, however his parting letter to the Governor is telling. It finds his persisted indifference against the tribal communities, predominantly Christians. He does no longer even recognize the violence, or his failure to convey it to a halt, and has no sense of grief. He presentations no indicators of getting a moral sense.”
The advance carries specific importance because it comes 5 days after the Best Courtroom directed a central forensics laboratory to inspect leaked audio tapes that allegedly function Singh announcing the ethnic violence used to be instigated at his insistence. The courtroom has scheduled the following listening to for March 25.
In spite of BJP state president A Sharda Devi’s assertions that there have been “no variations a number of the BJP legislators,” birthday celebration insiders expose that Singh’s place had turn out to be more and more untenable. Assets point out that a number of BJP MLAs had threatened to fortify the opposition’s no-confidence movement if Singh remained on the helm.
The political mathematics within the 59-member meeting (one seat is vacant following an NPP MLA’s loss of life) had grown precarious for Singh. The BJP holds 32 seats, with fortify from more than a few regional events together with the NPP (6 seats), NPF (5 seats), KPA (2 seats), JD(U) (6 seats), whilst the Congress has 5 seats and there are 3 independents. Particularly, all seven BJP Kuki MLAs, two KPA participants, and one unbiased had withdrawn fortify for Singh’s management.
The resignation has drawn combined reactions from Manipur’s ethnic communities. Meitei teams imagine the timing unlucky, with Jeetendra Ningomba, former coordinator of Cocomi, expressing fear that “the transfer will give a boost to Kuki separatist forces.” In the meantime, Kuki teams, whilst welcoming the advance, take care of that their call for for separate management stays unchanged. ITLF spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said, “We imagine he knew he can be voted out within the no-confidence vote casting within the Manipur meeting, and to avoid wasting his face, he will have to have submitted his resignation.”
The Congress has criticised the BJP for what it phrases a “belated” determination. AICC common secretary Jairam Ramesh identified that this used to be a requirement his birthday celebration have been making since early Might 2023, including that “other people of Manipur now look forward to a talk over with via our frequent-flier High Minister who’s off to France and the U.S. now – and who has discovered neither the time nor the inclination to visit Manipur those previous 20 months.” Congress chief Rahul Gandhi accused Singh of getting “instigated department in Manipur” over two years.
The central executive now faces the difficult job of deciding on Singh’s successor whilst addressing the deep-rooted ethnic divisions within the state. The war has successfully separated the Meitei-majority Imphal valley from the Kuki-dominated hills, with each communities in large part confined to their respective territories.
Singh’s go out comes after 21 months of ethnic-religious strife that has no longer simplest claimed loads of lives but additionally displaced over 60,000 other people. The disaster has considerably impacted the state’s building and administrative functioning, with former MP and NPF chief Lorho S Pfoze noting that Manipur wishes “a more practical management and a renewed center of attention on building.”
Singh’s resignation attracts the curtain on a political profession that noticed him upward thrust from a Border Safety Drive footballer to Manipur’s most sensible place of business. After 13 years with the Congress, he joined the BJP in 2016 and was leader minister following the birthday celebration’s victory within the 2017 meeting polls. He now exits place of business leaving at the back of a state deeply scarred via ethnic violence and dealing with one among its gravest crises since statehood.
