Manipur Chief Minister, N. Biren Singh in an exclusive interview, discussed the current situation of the state and highlighted the work in progress to bring normalcy to the state.

On being asked about the identification of illegal immigrants, Singh said, ‘With the decision and consent of the Ministry of Home Affairs, we had started the process of biometric identification of illegal immigrants from across the border but after the incident of 3rd May  2023,  we are not able to continue the same process and is lying hanging. He asserted that after normalcy returns to the state, we will restart the identification of illegal migrants and collection of biometrics and deportation has to begin again.

On NRC, Biren Singh echoed that the state has approached the Central Government as being a small state and having less number of Indigenous people, now, we are facing a demographic imbalance due to a huge influx from neighbouring countries, thus we need NRC. He also stated that various civil societies are demanding the same and have approached the Centre with similar demands.

On the issue of the foreign hand in the conflict-induced  Manipur, Biren Singh averted the question by saying that many elements are trying to hijack the problem of restoring peace in the state. He only commented that he, as a Chief Minister of the state appreciates the role of the Central Government and leaders who are minutely monitoring 24×7 and helping the state return to normalcy. He said that there are many things that he cannot disclose but the Government of India is taking the steps necessary for the sake of the state’s well-being.

On the involvement of the arms groups in the state, he said that the movement of armed militants is already known, and to deal with armed militants, the deployment of security forces is necessary. The containment of arms groups and dialogue has to go on together. So we have requested security forces to protect the lives and property of people. He categorically said that the Central Government has already started the dialogue with the affected communities but deployment of security forces is necessary immediately to protect people.

Biren Singh lamented that before the Jiribam incident, Manipur was limping back to normalcy, the economy was opening up education restarted and normalcy was returning. But the November 11 incident was a setback to normalcy. He believes and hopes, that with the support of people and guidance of the Centre, normalcy would soon return to the state.

On the Jiribam incident, the Chief Minister stated that the Kuki militants would have taken more lives if CRPF had not been there. Lives of innocent people have been saved because of the timely intervention of the CRPF, otherwise, the situation would have been different and more innocent civilians would have lost lives. 

Biren Singh condemned the killing of eight innocent civilians including small children as an ‘intolerable incident’ 

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