As ethnic violence and protests continue in Manipur for the past 45-days, multiple people in the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that President’s Rule was only a “last option” as the idea was to exhaust other available measures first.
Several organisations have demanded imposition of President’s Rule in the State owing to perceived and known biases in the State administration and security forces. While the Kuki legislators, including those from the BJP, have blamed the State police for planning attacks against the community, the dominant Meitei community has accused the Assam Rifles of helping the Kuki insurgent groups.
The BJP is in a dilemma regarding the continuance of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh at his post as the State continues to see incidents of violence, and removing him at this juncture could alienate the Meitei community more, but also lead to President’s Rule, a situation considered a “last option”.
