"Manipur Facing Severe Challenges From Illegal Immigration": Shashi Tharoor

After the Lok Sabha confirmed the imposition of President's rule in Manipur, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said he hopes peace and normalcy will be restored in the border state soon.

"The Manipur discussion was essentially to approve the proclamation of the President's rule and that happened peacefully without any fundamental disagreement... Let us hope that peace and normalcy will be restored," Mr Tharoor said.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah moved the resolution for the Lok Sabha's clearance for President's rule in the state where ethnic violence began nearly two years ago.

Mr Tharoor asked the house why it took up the Manipur issue at 2 am.

"The biggest crisis we are facing today is that there has been an erosion of public trust in the State, the State of India, the state of Manipur and its institutions. And that legitimacy has to be regained during this period of President's rule," Mr Tharoor said.

"On top of that we are seeing the state facing severe challenges from illegal immigration and drug trafficking, exacerbating the social and economic conditions I have mentioned," the Congress MP said.

"There has been sadly a situation where a prominent Manipuri woman police officer resigned from the force, blaming the chief minister and the government for actually interfering in drug investigations and sheltering drug lords. This has been an absolute shame for the nation..." Mr Tharoor said, referring to Brinda Thounaojam.

The state government gave Ms Thounaojam a gallantry award after she seized drugs worth over Rs 27 crore in 2018. She returned the award in 2020 after alleging the then chief minister N Biren Singh pressured her to release the main accused and tribal leader Lhukhosei Zhou, who was chairman of the Chandel Autonomous District Council.

Ms Thounaojam contested the assembly election in 2022 on a Janata Dal (United) ticket. The BJP's Thokchom Satybarta Singh defeated her. She is the daughter-in-law of RK Meghen, the former chairman of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), whose Pambei faction signed a ceasefire with the Centre and the state government in November 2023.

Mr Shah said there has been no violence in Manipur for the last four months, adding the situation in the state is under control.

"For the past four months, there has been no violence in Manipur... I will not say the situation in Manipur is satisfactory, but it is under control... Congress does not have that many MPs that they will move a no-confidence motion," Mr Shah said in the Lok Sabha.

The valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation. Over 250 have died in the violence and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar's Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Kuki leaders and groups including militants that represent their tribes and signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement have pointed at the ethnic clashes as the reason why they escalated their demand from an autonomous council to a separate administration, or a Union Territory with an assembly.

Meitei leaders termed this claim a lie, saying evidence about the demand for 'Kukiland' is widely available and goes back many years. They also point at Kuki 'civil' groups, their 10 MLAs including from the Zomi tribes, and the nearly two dozen militant groups that have come on the same stage in demanding a separate administration and working in tandem - as evidence of blurring lines between civilians and militants.