Manipur CM says resolved to resign as hurt by 'burning of PM's effigies'

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday revealed that he had offered to resign from his post because he was hurt by the protests taken out against PM Narendra Modi and thought that the people of the state were losing faith in his government as the nearly two-month long violence in the state refused to die down.

The violence-hit state has seen close to 100 deaths and hundreds injured including armed forces and civilians. Singh, in an interview to NDTV said he was suprised by the wave of support for him when he decided to resign as the CM.

"I was really surprised that people gathered outside my house. I thought everyone had left me. But when I went out and saw the crowd, I thanked God and my people who love me so much. So, I changed my decision," NDTV quoted Singh as saying.

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Singh said he was hurt that the protests also included burning of PM Modi's effigies and ransacking of BJP offices.

"In such a crucial time, some started burning the effigies of our leaders. I wouldn't have minded if it was my effigy, they were burning PM Modi's effigy. What has he done? In some areas, they started attacking the BJP offices," he told the publication.

The BJP government in Manipur has been increasingly pushing its claim that Myanmar-based drug lords and "illegal immigrants" from the neighbouring country were behind the violence that has rocked the state. "Satellite imagery have detected largescale cultivation of opium in the forests and hills of Manipur and so Chief Minister N. Biren Singh intensified the drive to destroy poppy cultivation under his War on Drugs campaign," a senior government official had told DH.

Singh said he was hurt by how the Kuki community perceived his intentions, accusing him of targeting them specifically when in reality he was simply flushing out illegal refugees and smugglers.

In a fresh incidence of violence, at least two "village volunteers" were killed in an exchange of fire with unidentified gunmen in Manipur's Bishnupur district, police said.

The incident took place in Khoijumantabi village late on Sunday night when the "village volunteers" were guarding the area in a makeshift bunker, a police officer said.