The National People’s Party on Sunday withdrew support to the BJP-led Manipur government over the worsening law and order, becoming the second ally to dump the Biren Singh dispensation over its failure to contain or resolve the 18-month-old unrest.

But like the Kuki People’s Alliance’s walkout in August last year, Sunday’s pullout by Conrad Sangma’s party would have little impact on the BJP government, which has a majority of its own with 37 seats in the 60-member House. The NPP and the BJP remain allies in Meghalaya.

Sources, however, said the Manipur pullout might set off a “churn” among the BJP’s own MLAs, many of whom are “unhappy” with the government’s handling of the crisis, and force the Centre to take “some decisive steps” to try and resolve the conflict between Meiteis and Kukis.

“We strongly feel that the Manipur State government under the leadership of Shri Biren Singh has completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy,” the NPP, part of the Biren Singh government since 2017, said.

Imphal had on Saturday witnessed violent protests with the homes of 13 MLAs targeted — and some of them vandalised or torched — following reports of the deaths of six Meiteis allegedly abducted by Kuki-Zo militants.

The six — women and children from the same family — had gone missing on November 11 after suspected Kuki-Zo militants targeted their relief camp along with the nearby Borobekra police station and a CRPF post in Jiribam district.

Ten of the suspected rebels were killed but some others among them are believed to have abducted the six civilians. Kuki-Zo organisations claim the 10 men killed “by the CRPF” were village volunteers tasked to protect their homes from Meitei attacks.

The bodies of two of the six “hostages” were recovered on Sunday, after three had been found on Friday. It’s widely believed that the sixth has been “killed” too.

The NPP uploaded its letter of withdrawal of support on its X handle late in the evening. It was addressed to BJP president J.P. Nadda.

It expressed “deep concern over the prevailing law and order concern in the State”, which it said had deteriorated further “in the last few days”, during which “many more innocent lives have been lost and people of the State are going through immense suffering”.

“Keeping the current situation in mind, the National People’s Party has decided to withdraw its support to the Biren Singh-led government... with immediate effect,” said the letter, signed by Conrad Sangma, who happens to be Meghalaya chief minister.

The NPP has seven MLAs while the Kuki People’s Alliance, which walked out first, had two. The BJP-led government still commands 46 votes in the House of 60.

Bodies

The six relief camp inmates suspected to have been abducted and killed included a 65-year-old woman, her two married daughters and their three minor children. They belonged to the Borobekra area of Jiribam.

The body of the grandmother and a two-and-a-half-year-old boy were recovered on Sunday from the River Barak at two places in Assam’s Cachar district, which borders Jiribam district of Manipur, a family member said.

The relative said the family would not claim the bodies “till justice has been served” so that no other family has to endure such atrocities.

A family member said at the Silchar Medical College, where the post-mortem was being done, that all five bodies bore signs of torture.

Calm but tense

There were no reports of violence on Sunday in the Imphal Valley, which had erupted on Saturday in fury at the alleged kidnapping and killing of the six relief camp inmates, and at the government’s failure to restore normalcy.

The state police said that on Saturday, “irate mobs ha(d) targeted various houses and properties of public representatives including Ministers and MLAs of the State in Imphal”. The police fired tear gas to disperse the mob.

Sources said the homes of an MLA each from the NPP, JDU and the Congress and that of an independent MLA were targeted along with those of nine of their BJP peers on Saturday.

Security forces including the army and the AssamRifles have been deployed in Imphal.

Eight people were “injured in the process of mob dispersal”, the police said on Sunday morning.

“Further, 23 persons who were part of the mob indulging in ransacking and arson of the houses above have been arrested from Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur Districts…” they said.

The police claimed to have recovered a .32 pistol, seven SBBL (single-barrel breech loading gun) bullets and eight mobile phones “from their possession”.

Curfew has been imposed on five valley districts while Internet has been suspended in nine districts.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday chaired a meeting with senior security officials in Delhi to review the situation in Manipur. Sources said Shah would hold a detailed review meeting on the subject on Monday.

Jiribam arson

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, a Churachandpur-based Kuki-Zo organisation, said on Sunday night that at least five churches, a school, a petrol pump and 14 houses belonging to Kuki-Zos in Jiribam had been “burnt down by Meitei miscreants”.

It said a 27-year-old man, Haojel Doungel, was killed in Cachar on Saturday night. Kuki-Zos are mostly Christians.

An official confirmed the arson but said these structures were “abandoned and unoccupied” since June.