Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 16: The house of a union minister and the warehouse of a retired high profile IAS officer became the target of mob attacks as fresh violence continued to rock Manipur which has been witnessing clashes between two groups over the demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.
The house of the union minister of state for external affairs RK Ranjan Singh at Kongba in Imphal town was vandalised by a mob which also tried to burn it down late on Thursday night, officials said. This development came after the burning of two houses, and clashes between the Rapid Action Force of Manipur and a mob in the heart of Imphal town on Thursday afternoon.
On Friday, a riotous mob clashed with Manipur’s Rapid Action Force in Imphal after it had torched a warehouse. Police used tear gas shells to disperse the mob as it was believed that it would target other properties. “The riot occurred near the Imphal palace grounds,” officials said.
Fire personnel and security forces rushed to the site and brought the warehouse fire under control and prevented it from spreading to the neighbouring houses. The property belonged to a retired high-profile IAS officer from the tribal community, while Singh belonged to the rival Meitei community. The mob which roamed the town late on Thursday also clashed with security forces, officials said.
An enraged Ranjan Singh on vandalisation of his house attacked his own party government in Manipur stating that the law and order situation had completely broken down in the north-eastern state. “I am trying to bring peace and stop violence since May 3 (when ethnic clashes began in the state) … this is all a misunderstanding between two communities. The government has set up a peace committee, the process is on. Civil society leaders are sitting together.”
Officials said the house of the Union Minister was set on fire by a mob of over 1,000 people when the minister was not in the house. The mob managed to reach the minister’s house at Kongba despite a curfew in Imphal. There were nine security escorts personnel, five security guards and eight additional guards on duty at the minister’s residence at the time, officials said.
A security personnel at the minister’s house said the mob threw petrol bombs from all directions during the attack. “We couldn’t prevent the incident as the mob was overwhelming and we couldn’t control the situation. They threw petrol bombs coming in from all directions… from the bye lane behind the building and from the front entrance, so we simply couldn’t control the mob,” L Dineshwor Singh, Escort Commander, said.
The Escort Commander said around 1,200 people were part of the mob. This is the second time that the minister’s house was attacked by a mob. During the attack in May, the security personnel fired in the air to disperse the mob.
Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, who was in Kerala, expressed anguish at miscreants torching his residence and said the “law and order situation in Manipur has failed.” Singh said he had constructed his house with prayers and was unable to understand why it was targeted.
“Someone tries to vandalize it, demolish, I feel shocked. I never expect such kind of attitude and activities from my fellow citizens of this state. I pray to God also not to happen again. This is the second time, the first time, I anyhow convinced them and the security protected…. that was in early evening. This time yesterday it was late night, around 10:30. Everything was normal, suddenly crowds of people came and attacked, I was told,” Singh said.
The minister said when the house was on fire, the fire brigades could not enter the place as people created blockages. “I do not know why they are attacking. There is no reason. In the whole process, I am trying to bring the peace, negotiating…my senior ministers and colleagues to bring normalcy in the state. In the meanwhile, this kind of unwanted incident happened. If my sons and daughters and family happens to be here…that burning and throwing of petrol, it seems to attempt on my life also,” he said.
“Law and order condition in Manipur is a total failure. The existing government could not maintain peace that’s why the central government has sent a lot of protections and Rapid Action Force. I don’t know how the state mechanism is failure, I feel like that,” he added.
Clashes broke out in Manipur after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The violence in Manipur was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.
Meiteis are majority community in Manipur followed by tribal communities like Nagas and Kukis. Last month, RK Ranjan Singh held a meeting with a group of intellectuals from Manipur’s Meitei and Kuki communities to discuss how to bring peace in the violence-hit northeast state. The minister also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “identify and condemn” local politicians who could be responsible for the trouble in Manipur.
“We are not to blame any community or ethnic group… The harmonious relations among ethnic groups are often violated by leaders for getting their political ends. Myopic politicians often play with the lives and emotions of the common people… They have done enough damage to society. Their tactics trigger unimaginable losses, for instance the present ethnic inferno. Such local leaders must be identified and condemned,” Singh wrote in the letter to PM Modi on May 21.
Over 100 people have died since May 3 in clashes between the Meiteis, who live in and around the state capital Imphal valley, and the Kuki tribe, who are settled in the hills, over the valley residents’ demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.