Except for some die-hard supporters and beneficiaries of his generosity, Chief Minister N Biren Singh has become a target of public anger or ridicule. Many of them are demanding either his resignation or removal from the post of Chief Minister for his failure to bring about a semblance of order and rule of law in the state or steps towards return to normalcy. He has been trying hard to project himself as the only patriot among the crowd of self-seeking politicians whose sole objective for remaining in office is for protecting Manipur’s territorial integrity and future of its indigenous communities. He loves to flaunt his ‘deep understanding’ of Manipur’s complex issues and its threats, which were otherwise neglected by other political parties or leaders in the past.
Even in the state legislative assembly, he declares that he needs to remain in the post of the chief minister to protect Manipur’s integrity as no other politician has the commitment to do so. He continues to reject demands for his resignation as ‘misconceived’ and that it is the instigation of his detractors and dissidents within his party at work. In his heart of hearts, he seems to believe so with deep conviction that he even says that those who are abusing him today would regret and shed tears tomorrow. Such is the intensity of his unshakeable belief. Well, no other chief minister has had such abuse from the general public particularly on social media. But then, N Biren Singh was so visible on social media like no other. So, he had his share of brickbats and accolades which nobody minds nowadays.
As regards the demands for his resignation, we need to go deeper into the issues involved. There were opinions that the moment his leadership of the Unified Command as a chief minister was taken away from him, he should have resigned in protest there and then. Except for a controversial episode on Nupilal Road in which his resignation letter was torn to shreds by some women supporters, he had been clinging to the post of chief minister like a leech while his party leaders including the Prime Minister continue to neglect the Manipur imbroglio. Instead of expressing disappointment at the lack of apathy from central leaders, he continued to sing paeans of the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister.
In all this, his colleagues in the party and those MLAs from other allied parties supporting the government continued to hang on without any protest. There was even a talk that many MLAs in the ruling crowd are contemplating to resign enmasse and that there are even plans of staging sit-in-protest at Jantar Mantar if their revered leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi refuses to meet them or listen to their pleas, which were forgotten.
Some of them even complained about sending the MLAs alone to New Delhi and that it should be the chief minister leading the MLAs in their endeavour. But the MLAs never did express this sentiment publicly and continued to be part of the charade. So, the responsibility lies not only with the chief minister but with all the MLAs supporting him. And as such, a change of guard at the helm of affairs would not be a solution. A change of the whole set of MLAs, including the Opposition is necessary, which would only be possible by dissolving the present legislative Assembly and calling for fresh elections to seek a fresh mandate.
(The views expressed are personal)
