Manipur CM’s Twitter handle taunts Kukis with jibes invoking Myanmar
The tweets, which were later deleted, were accused of exacerbating ethnic tensions in the violence-ridden state.
Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh found himself in the middle of another controversy on Saturday after a series of tweets from his official Twitter handle hit out at social media users demanding his resignation. The tweets, which were later deleted, incensed the Opposition and tribal groups as they accused the chief minister of invoking the already inflamed ethnic fault lines in the violence-hit state.
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The controversial tweets, put out early on Saturday, came a day after Singh seemed to begin the process of resigning as the chief minister of Manipur, a state roiled by ethnic clashes for close to two months now. However, protesters that collected outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s Imphal home prevented him from proceeding to the governor’s residence 200 metres away, following which he “clarified” he would not demit office.
“At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister,” he tweeted on Friday after thousands of Meitei women gathered outside his home and tore a sheet of paper that contained his resignation.
A Twitter profile with the name “Thang Kuki” said the CM should have resigned a long time ago. In a reply to the tweet, Singh’s official account posted: “Are you from India or Myanmar?” with a laughing emoji, insinuating close ties between Kukis from Manipur and the members of the ethnic group residing across the international border.
Since May 3, Manipur has been gripped by ethnic clashes, triggered by an order by the Manipur high court that recommended to the government that the Meiteis, the dominant community in Manipur forming 53% of the population, be included in the scheduled tribe list. This led to protests by the tribal population,particularly the Kukis, and tensions led to clashes across the state. Since then, sporadic violence has continued, with at least 117 dead, over 300 injured, and nearly 50,000 displaced from their homes.
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Singh is a member of the dominant Meitei community.
Singh responded to another tweet that appeared to play on the ethnic faultlines. A Twitter profile named “Anthony Lunkim” said that he was a resident of Zalengam, a village in Chandel district of Manipur. [The name of the village, which translates to Land of Freedom, is also the name of a proposed state by Kukis and a stated goal of a section of Kuki militant group.] “Can be in Myanmar,” the reply from Singh’s handle said.
Another user with the profile name “Lal Hkip” tweeted to the CM that Myanmar too has a large population of Meiteis, but not all of them are termed as Burmese. “Meitei in Myanmar never ask [for] their homeland in Myanmar,” the reply from CM’s account said.
A fourth post was in reply to a user with the profile name “Saral Patel”, who asked the CM to fax his resignation to the governor and said there was no need to physically hand it over. “Don’t bark without knowing the ground realities. Mainland will not understand the complexity of Myanmar border Indian state,” the tweet from Singh’s account said in a reply.
HT saw the tweets by the CM’s official handle before they were deleted hours later.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said the CM’s account was managed by a handler. It was not immediately clear whether the handler was part of the CMO, from some government departement, or a third party.
“We are not sure about these posts and what exactly happened. There’s a handler who manages the CM’s account. We will check at our end,” the senior CMO staff said.
Manipur health minister Sapam Ranjan Singh, who is also the government spokesperson, said that he was unaware of the Twitter posts and will respond after checking with the officials concerned. His response was awaited.
Tribal groups said the tweets exposed the chief minister, whom they accused of pushing a communal narrative amid widespread violence.
“Chief minister N Biren Singh is still as communal as he used to be. Nothing has changed. He still considers the Kuki-Zo communities in Manipur as illegal immigrants. He still says we all are from Myanmar. There are many Meiteis in Myanmar too,” said Ginza Vualzong, spokesperson for the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), a conglomerate of Kuki groups in Churachanpur district of Manipur.
Congress leaders in Manipur, including state unit president K Meghachandra Singh, did not respond to requests for comment.
