GUWAHATI
The 60-member Manipur Assembly failed to hold a Special Session on Monday to discuss the ongoing ethnic violence as the Raj Bhavan did not issue any notification to convene it despite a recommendation from the State Cabinet.
An official statement on August 4 said the State Cabinet had recommended to Governor Anusuiya Uikey the summoning of the fourth session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly on August 21. This followed a similar request from the State government on July 27.
“The Special Session could not be held as we did not receive the requisite notification from the Governor,” a senior official said, declining to be quoted.
Such notification is required to be issued 15 days ahead of a session.
The last session of the State Assembly was adjourned sine die in March, more than a month before the ethnic clashes between the tribal Kuki and the non-tribal Meitei communities started on May 3.
The next session has to be held before September 2.
Article 174 of the Constitution says: “The House or Houses of the Legislature of the State shall be summoned to meet twice at least in every year, and six months shall not intervene between their last sitting in one session and the date appointed for their first sitting in the next session.”
Former Manipur Chief Minister and senior Congress leader, Okram Ibobi Singh said the failure of the House to sit for the “Monsoon Session” pointed to a constitutional crisis.
Referring to the August 4 recommendation by the Manipur Cabinet, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Governor not calling the Special Session of the Assembly “is further evidence that the constitutional machinery has simply broken down” in the State.
Taking to X (previously Twitter), he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was preoccupied with “refurbishing his self-styled Vishwaguru role” and the Home Minister (Amit Shah) was “busy electioneering” to let the “agony of the people of Manipur” continue “unabated”.
Tribal MLAs away
The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an apex body of the Meiteis, had in July demanded a Special Session of the Assembly and set August 5 as the deadline for it.
The organisation also submitted a memorandum at the Prime Minister’s Office on August 5 seeking a Special Session for adopting a resolution in the House against compromising the State’s territorial integrity.
This followed the demand of several Kuki-Zomi organisations, specifically the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, for a separate administration for the tribal people. The demand included set-ups similar to an Assembly apart from the posting of officials of the rank of Chief Secretary and Director-General of Police.
All 10 Kuki MLAs, including seven of the BJP, refused to take part in the Special “COCOMI-dictated” Assembly Session citing security reasons. The United Naga Council, the apex body of 20 Naga tribes of Manipur, also advised all 10 Naga MLAs to avoid the session because of the alleged lack of urgency by the government to resolve the “Indo-Naga” peace process.
The remaining 40 MLAs are all non-tribals from Imphal Valley and Jiribam Valley bordering southern Assam. A majority of them are from the BJP but a few of them were not signatories to a memorandum by 40 MLAs, including the Nagas, who recently wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to maintain the territorial integrity of Manipur.
