Now the Supreme Court is also in the loop with regard to the controversy surrounding the audio tapes allegedly implicating Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The apex court bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on his last day sitting agreed to look into the matter brought up by a Kuki organisation but asked the petitioners to show the authenticity of the said audio tapes which allegedly shows CM Biren Singh as one of the principal instigators of the present conflict. Well now, law would take its own course.
However, as we said earlier, the real debate is not about whether the controversial audio tapes serially aired by The Wire in its reports are genuine or not, which could be established by a forensic analysis or for the petitioners to prove its genuineness. Nowadays, there are several private parties or individuals who have the technical competence to conduct such forensic analysis as we have seen among the fact-checkers who usually exhibit their skills with regard to social media content. The Wire would have surely vetted the controversial audio tapes through such unofficial channels before bringing out the reports. The reports say that the said audio tapes are similar to the ones submitted to the Inquiry Committee instituted by the Supreme Court to enquire into the Manipur crisis.
Although The Wire report did not categorically say the voice in the audio tapes are of Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren, there were enough implications to it. The state government claiming that the audio tapes are doctored had also filed an FIR in this regard. For the record, it was not The Wire which first broke the story about the controversial tapes. About a week before the reports came out, a chatter directly insinuating the Chief Minister from known Kuki handles along with an accompanying audio tape came out on social media to which the state government reacted swiftly with a denial and FIR. And then, The Wire reports came out. Yet, The Wire is yet to lay all its cards on the table or of the reports directly asserting the voice in the audio tapes as that of the Chief Minister.
In short, the initial chatter on social media and the serialised reports smacks of an exploratory probe into the allegations as apparent in the follow-up reports. And it seems to have succeeded to some extent. While Chief Minister N Biren Singh through state government channels had claimed the controversial audio tapes as ‘doctored’ with the intention to create further tension in the state, many handles have taken to glorifying N Biren as the ‘hero’ or champion of the Meitei community while also questioning the real intent of The Wire and the Kuki handles with regard to the controversial tapes.
Whatever be the ‘real’ feelings or inclinations of N Biren Singh in the present ethnic strife, many of his so-called supporters seem to have forgotten that he is the Chief Minister of a state called Manipur inhabited by different communities and not of the Meiteis. And this reflects poorly on his character and standing. Right from the beginning, the Kuki lobby had been trying hard to project him as a ‘communal’ Chief Minister interested only in the welfare of his own community. Sadly, many of his so-called supporters and admirers seem oblivious to this design. Still, the so-called admirers of the Chief Minister continue to indulge on social media gossip even after the Supreme Court intervention. These social media handles do not care about insinuating the office of the Chief Minister or any particular community.
