Twelve BJP legislators skipped a meeting of NDA MLAs convened by Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh on Monday night “to review the developing law and order situation” in the state, reflecting a churning within the party over the ongoing turmoil.

The meeting was attended by 27 MLAs, seven MLAs skipped it on personal or medical grounds while 11 remained absent without citing any reason, an official said.

“Altogether 12 BJP MLAs did not turn up — nine without citing any reason and the rest on medical grounds. It will not impact the Biren Singh government for now because it still has the majority and no one has gone public with their disenchantment,” a BJP
insider said.

“But there are signs that some of the MLAs are unhappy with the way the ethnic conflict has been handled. And these signs can’t be ignored by the current dispensation. There is no denying a churning in the state unit because there is a lot of anger and grief over the recent developments,” he added.

In the 60-member Manipur Assembly, the BJP has 37 MLAs and also has the support of five MLAs from the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and three Independents.

The Congress’s five MLAs are in the Opposition along with two from the Kuki People’s Alliance (KPA) and one from the JDU.

Four MLAs from the National People’s Party (NPP), a BJP ally that has withdrawn support to the party in Manipur, attended the meeting on Monday.

An MLA each from the JDU and the NPF, an Independent and three from the NPP did not attend the meeting.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh flagged the absenteeism in a post on X.

“The Manipur Assembly has 60 MLAs. Last night, the CM of Manipur called a meeting in Imphal of all MLAs belonging to the NDA. Other than him, only 26 showed up. Of these 26, 4 belong to the NPP whose National President has already written to the BJP National President withdrawing support to the present CM,” he said.

“The writing on the wall is clear. But is the grand sutradhar of Manipur — the Union Home Minister, to whom the PM has abdicated and outsourced all responsibility for the state — reading it? How long will the excruciating agony of the people of Manipur continue like this?” he added.

Ramesh claimed that “we gather that the signatures of 3 MLAs who were supposedly present have been forged. So the ACTUAL number of NDA MLAs present was just 24, including the CM.”

The chief minister or his office is yet to react to the Congress’s claims. A source said the signature issue “involves an NPP and an Independent MLA”, but did not elaborate.

Sources said Singh had convened the meeting following a call by the Committee on Manipur Integrity (Cocomi), a conglomerate of leading Meitei-based civil society organisations, on November 16 to hold a meeting of the MLAs and take decisive measures against the armed Kuki-Zo groups.

The trigger was the abduction of six relief camp inmates from Borobekra in Jiribam district on November 11 and their subsequent murder by suspected Kuki-Zo militants.

The resolution adopted at the MLAs’ meeting said they had endorsed the views and decisions of the cabinet meeting on November 16 to recommend a review of the extension of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (Afspa) to six police station areas to the Centre. The cabinet has recommended its withdrawal.

The meeting also resolved to recommend “a mass operation against the Kuki militants responsible for the killing of the six innocent women and children in Jiribam within seven days”.

It was also resolved that the case be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) immediately along with the probe into the killing of a Hmar woman in Jiribam on November 7 and a Meitei woman farmer in Bishnupur on November 9.

“Declare the Kuki militants responsible for the killing of the 6 innocent women and children as an ‘unlawful organisation’ within 7 (seven) days. If the above resolutions taken are not implemented within the specified period, all the NDA legislators will decide the future course of action in consultation with the people of the state,” the resolution said.

A Cocomi leader said they were not satisfied with the resolution adopted at the meeting and have set a 24-hour deadline to review it “as per the sentiment and demand of the people” who are suffering in this ongoing conflict.

The Cocomi wants the MLAs to ensure a military crackdown on all Kuki-Zo militant groups and declare all of them unlawful instead of initiating action against only those Kuki-Zo militants involved in the Jiribam killings.

The pressure group also said that the MLAs should resign if the Centre did not agree to their recommendation on Afspa or steps against the Kuki-Zo militants, adding “there was no need for more consultation with the people who have spoken their mind on numerous occasion since the conflict began”.