Shah to move statutory resolution in Rajya Sabha on President’s rule in Manipur

Union home minister Amit Shah will on Thursday evening move a statutory resolution in the Rajya Sabha on the proclamation of the President’s rule in ethnic violence-hit Manipur .

The Union government on February 13 imposed President’s rule in Manipur under the Constitution’s Article 356, four days after chief minister Biren Singh resigned. Under Article 356, both houses of Parliament must approve the proclamation of the President’s Rule within two months.

Around 2.40am on Thursday, Lok Sabha passed the resolution by voice vote after a 40-minute discussion during which eight opposition lawmakers spoke and Shah responded. The opposition questioned the timing of the discussion, which started at 2am after a marathon one on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill during the day that went on for nearly 14 hours.

In his reply in the Lok Sabha, Shah said the government was trying to hold joint meetings with Kuki and Meitei groups. “Very soon, there will be a joint meeting. ...The first step is to restore peace. By and large, the situation is under control. In the last four months, two people were injured, and there has been no violence. I would not say it is satisfactory, but it is under control. Until the day the internally displaced people are in camps, there is no reason to be satisfied.”

Over the last two years, the government’s efforts to have joint meetings with representatives of both groups have not fructified. On October 15, Kuki-Zo assembly members came for a meeting when the Union home ministry called it, but refused to sit with the Meitei lawmakers in the same room.

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Shah did not elaborate on how the government was working to bring together the two groups. People aware of the matter said a meeting of Kuki-Zo groups with the ministry is scheduled in New Delhi on April 5.

Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities remain divided on ethnic lines nearly 23 months after the ethnic clashes broke out. Security forces have been posted at the buffer zones between the Meitei-dominated hills and valley, where Kuki-Zo tribals reside, to ensure that the two communities do not enter each other’s territories sand clash.

On March 8, a civilian was killed and dozens were injured when Kuki-Zo residents in the state’s hill district of Kangpokpi protested against the movement of an interstate bus from Imphal under heavy security as part of an attempt to end hostilities.

Kuki-Zo groups said they will oppose the interstate movement of people and continue to demand separate administration at Saturday’s meeting.

The state assembly has been put in suspended animation. This provides a party with a majority in the House an opportunity to attempt to form a government in the assembly at a later stage.

Biren Singh resigned amid mounting discord and the threat of a no-confidence motion. Reports suggested that up to 10-12 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators were prepared to cross the party line during the scheduled assembly session on February 10. BJP’s 10 other Kuki-Zo MLAs severed ties with Singh following the ethnic clashes and demanded his resignation.

Singh was asked to remain as caretaker chief minister for four days after his resignation. BJP leaders held meetings with lawmakers opposed to Singh and unsuccessfully tried to garner the requisite numbers to form a government without him.