The ethnic conflict in Manipur involving the majority Meitei community and the minority Kukis began in 2023 after the state’s High Court ordered the government to accept the Meitei demand for Scheduled Tribe status, which, if granted, would have extended economic benefits and job and education quotas meant for marginalised groups like the Kukis to the majority community.
International human rights organisations accused the state administration as well as Mr Modi’s government of allowing vigilante groups in the state to operate with impunity, stoking ethnic tensions, and failing to uphold law and order.
In his resignation letter, Mr Singh thanked Mr Modi’s federal government for what he described as its efforts to safeguard Manipur’s interests and urged continued action to curb border infiltration and deport “illegal immigrants”.
The state was now expected to be placed under the president’s rule, meaning that it would effectively be ruled directly by Mr Modi’s government.
A fresh wave of violence in Manipur compelled the northeast Indian state’s chief minister to resign over the weekend as the almost two-year-old ethnic conflict raged on unabated.
