Imphal: The month of February in the year 2025 will sink into President’s Rule and plunge into an already inflammatory Manipur state. This followed November 9 resignation of N. Biren Singh from the chief ministership post. The Union Government had hardly taken a few swift measures for seizing administrative control from the state government, citing a constitutional breakdown in the state.
According to the President Droupadi Murmu exercise in Article 356 of the Constitution, the proclamation declaring everything that happened in the functions of the state government to be controlled by the Centre was signed. Thus, Parliament will wield legislative power over the state rendering the assembly of Manipur effectively null and void.
Notifying the same through the official Gazette came from the Ministry of Home Affairs on 13 February. The announcement stated that this decision has been taken following a complete report from the Governor of Manipur, Anusuiya Uikey, who had flagged the government’s failure to maintain the constitutional order.
The Fall of Biren Singh – A Political Spiral
Biren Singh, who helmed the BJP-led government, resigned amid escalating violence and ethnic clashes that had pushed the state to the brink. This exit was the last straw across speculation. What humiliating followed or not was surprising: the Centre stepping with the constitutional nuclear: President’s Rule.
Did It Have to Come to This?
To refresh memories of people not familiar with the crisis of Manipur: The ethnic tension between the Meitei and the Kukis erupted into violence in May 2023 and escalated to a full-blown security crisis. The state found itself caught in armed conflict, imposing curfews, cutting off the internet, and displacing thousands. The Biren government was increasingly perceived as ineffective and biased toward one side while losing control on the law and order front.
However, despite several visits from the Union home minister Amit Shah and the dispatch of paramilitary contingents, the violence could not be brought under control. More than that, Singh’s resignation was probably the penultimate act rather than any case of will.
Centre Slowly Takes the Wheel – But Will It Calm the Storm?
Now that strings are being pulled from New Delhi, stability is assured—unless you happen to be skeptical. For history tells us that President’s Rule is typically a political band-aid rather than a solution. Will the Centre achieve what the state government could not? Or is this just yet another episode in the long and ongoing tale of Manipur unrest?
Only the future will tell, but at present, all the inhabitants of Manipur can do is hope that Delhi has more to offer than mere papers and political postures.