Imphal | Rejecting any suggestion of stepping down from his post, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has claimed that people are with him in his efforts to "protect" the state so there is no question of him resigning.
“Why should I resign? Have I stolen anything? Is there a scandal against me? Have I worked against the nation or state?” Singh asked in an interview to PTI Videos on Thursday.
He made a strong defence of his record despite being panned by opposition parties for allegedly stoking violence and being accused by Kuki groups of favouring Meiteis in the ethnic clashes that broke out in May last year.
Singh cited his government's drive against drugs and identifying illegal immigrants as the underlying reasons for the violence, which ranged Meiteis and Kukis against each other.
“I have saved the state from illegal migration, illegal poppy cultivation. My job is to protect Manipur and people of Manipur. There is no question (of resigning),” he told PTI Videos in the interview.
According to Singh, the BJP's loss in both Lok Sabha seats from Manipur, including the Meitei-dominated Inner Manipur, was a reflection on his popularity, and not because his party was any less popular. He said people blamed him for not doing enough to quell the violence despite having security forces at his command.
"People got emotional that I could not do much despite being the CM. Despite having forces at my command, they believed I did not get back at those using guns," Singh said.
The chief minister claimed he always believed that the solution will come not from hitting back but through dialogue and peace.
Singh has been accused by Kuki groups of favouring Meiteis, a community he himself comes from, in the ethnic violence that has claimed 226 lives since May 2023 according to official count and displaced thousands of families. Opposition parties have demanded his resignation, saying it will help repair the torn social fabric.
"I am chief minister of every community, be it Meiteis, Kukis or Nagas," he said. Singh said his government intensified its "war on drugs" in its second term and the drive to detect illegal immigrants from Myanmar while clearing encroached reserve forests, measures which did not go down well with a section of people.
Though he did not say it directly, Meitei groups have alleged that a section of Kukis were linked to poppy plantation in hilly areas inhabited by them and to protecting illegal immigrants who are of the same ethnic stock as they are.
"Whatever I did was for the country, for the state. It was not for Biren," Singh said, expressing concern over the use of reserve forests for poppy plantations and illegal settlements.
Referring to his apparent bid to step down in June last year before he changed his mind after his supporters tore his resignation letter, Singh said he might have considered it at one point of time wondering if he still had people's trust but no longer does so.
"Public is with me. Then why should I (quit)," he said.
Though an uncertain calm has returned to the state, the two ethnic groups remain separated, wary of venturing into each other's territories.