The location where Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was supposed to hold a function on Friday in the state’s Churachandpur district was vandalised and set on fire by a mob. Today, the chief minister was supposed to open a gym and sports complex.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, which has been protesting the BJP-led state government’s survey of reserved and protected forest and wetlands, is said to have led the mob violence. The state administration has also been charged by the tribal forum for demolishing churches.
Following the incident, Churachandpur has implemented Section 144 and temporarily halted internet connectivity.
The enraged mob was observed destroying furniture within the facility, including seats, and setting fire to sports equipment inside the recently built gym.
The crowd was promptly dispersed by local police, but the facility had already suffered damage from hundreds of flaming chairs. The Churachandpur administration increased security in the district as the situation became out of control, but the tension has not abated.
The freshly installed open gym at the PT Sports facility in New Lamka, which Biren Singh is scheduled to dedicate on Friday afternoon, was partially destroyed by the enraged mob, according to police, according to news agency PTI.
If the chief minister’s programme has been postponed because of the violence, the district administration has not yet confirmed it.
TRIBAL FORUM MOB VIOLENCE
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, which has been protesting the BJP-led state government’s survey of reserved and protected forest regions in addition to the wetlands, is said to have led the mob violence. The state administration was charged by the tribal forum with destroying churches.
The forum called for an eight-hour walkout in the district on Friday beginning at 8 am and said that it had been forced to carry out a non-cooperation campaign against the government in order to impede its projects.
The forum has also received backing from the Kuki Students’ Organisation, which has accused the state’s indigenous people of having a stepmotherly attitude.
Three churches in the state were reportedly destroyed earlier this month by the Manipur government, which claimed they were built illegally.
