Why should I resign, whatever I did was to protect Manipur: CM Biren Singh
Imphal (PTI): 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.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
