Forget double-engine governance—for a year and a half, it seemed Manipur was running on one sputtering engine and a prayer. Biren Singh had lost the confidence of a large section of his constituents and some of his own ministers even before the Congress announced its intent to table a no-confidence motion in the assembly this week. Singh’s inability to douse the violence came under a harsher light last week when the Supreme Court ordered forensic analysis of audio recordings that allegedly show him stoking the flames. So when Singh resigned as chief minister on Sunday, there was a sigh of relief all around. But it was only the first step back towards normalcy in the strife-torn state.
Before taking the next few steps, we must not fall back on the excuse that this is just a fresh chapter in an old conflict. There are many long-running feuds between northeastern tribes who peacefully cohabit today. Dissatisfaction over a community’s reservation status—which apparently triggered the violence in May 2023—is not unique to this region. Similar angst bothers the Jats in the north and Marathas in the west, though those cauldrons have been kept below boiling point. The Meiteis’ demand for revoking scheduled tribe status for Kukis is schadenfreude, given they have twice rejected the status for themselves.
The Centre’s aim of bringing order to the state was clear when former Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was appointed governor last month after two appointees who had been in the seat for only two years in all. While the constitutional mechanics of forming a new government or imposing president’s rule are being worked out, some larger steps towards lasting peace are clear. The tens of thousands of displaced families should not only be allowed to safely go back, but their post-traumatic stress and children’s learning setbacks must also be addressed. While clamping down on the region’s flourishing drugs trade, which community elders have complained about, clarity must be provided on why suspected kingpin Lhukhosei Zou was acquitted in 2020. The road through the mountain of institutional apathy that the warring sides allege will be tortuous. But we need to start on it right now by creating a permanent forum for talks, at times of peace as well as conflict.