"State's Utter Disregard": Key Meitei Groups Boycott Manipur Government

A key civil society group has called for an indefinite social boycott of the N Biren Singh government in Manipur where ethnic violence has been raging for over three months.

The Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity or COCOMI, an umbrella body of Meitei groups, accused the government of not heeding to its resolutions taken at a July rally.

"Altogether five resolutions were taken on the day of the rally, but the government has failed to fulfill or initiate works for any of the resolutions, therefore COCOMI had called the indefinite social boycott against the state as a result of the state's utter disregard of the people," said Jeetendra Ningomba, COCOMI coordinator.

He also called upon people not to cooperate with any government measure.

"We urge all not to cooperate with any measures of the state authorities during the boycott and not to attend any government event," Mr Ningomna added.

The COCOMI had also demanded a special assembly session by August 5.

"We had demanded an emergency session of the assembly. But the state government failed to act on our request. This compelled us to boycott it," he said.

Manipur Minister Sapam Ranjan Singh last month said a session will be convened early August but the date and business for the proposed session was yet to be decided.

At least 170 people have been killed in ethnic clashes that broke out in Manipur on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.