A Manipur BJP legislator has asked the State’s 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs to resign from their Assembly seats and contest from another State if they continue to stick to the demand of a “separate administration” without working towards peace.
Rajkumar Imo Singh, one of the BJP’s Meitei MLAs, gave the “advice” to the Kuki-Zo MLAs, seven of them from the BJP, while reacting to their meeting with Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga apparently to find a solution to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur.
Manipur has virtually been partitioned on ethnic lines after the clashes between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities broke out on May 3, killing more than 160 people and displacing about 60,000.
“These so-called legislators seem to be attending office in another State. Are they all serious to bringing a peaceful solution in our State? And how will that be possible by discussing with another State leader who has a different agenda?” Mr. Singh wrote on X, previously Twitter.
The Kuki-Zo MLAs and leaders of some Manipur-based Kuki-Zo civil society organisations had a closed-door meeting with Mr. Zoramthanga in Mizoram’s capital Aizawl on Wednesday.
Mr. Singh said if these legislators continue to stick to their demand of separation from Manipur and were not serious about bringing peace, they should resign from the 60-member Manipur Assembly.
‘Morally not correct’
“…it is morally not correct to remain in public office, take salary from the State and talk about division and separation from the State,” Mr. Singh said, adding it would be better to have legislators in these constituencies from other tribal communities who are willing to work together for the progress of Manipur.
“I request my fellow legislators to come back to the State and work unitedly for a peaceful and prosperous Manipur or resign from their respective posts honourably and continue with their demand and contest from some other State,” he wrote on X.
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The Kuki-Zo MLAs had raised the demand for a separate administration soon after Manipur started burning in ethnic animosity.
Meanwhile, security forces and police in Manipur recovered a 7.62 mm SLR, a 9 mm carbine and a 9 mm pistol during a joint operation on Saturday. These weapons were believed to have been looted from the armed forces during the initial stages of the violence.
