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| Police remove burning branches placed as barricades during the strike in Imphal. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Imphal, Aug. 3: A key CPI leader in Manipur’s ruling Secular Progressive Front (SPF) resigned today, apparently to protest a July 23 shootout that has seen protesters fight pitched battles with police for days.
Moirangthem Nara Singh quit as the secretary of the ruling Secular Progressive Front’s steering committee. He did not give any reason but his resignation is being seen as an indication that the CPI, a partner in the Ibobi Singh government, supports the popular demand for a judicial inquiry into the shootout in which a pregnant woman and a suspected militant were killed.
It is also seen as a sign that the CPI wasn’t happy with the way chief minister Ibobi Singh has handled the situation.
Nara Singh would only say he could no longer continue in his role under the “prevailing circumstances”. CPI sources, however, said his resignation was the fallout of the shootout and its backlash.
The CPI has asked Pheiroijam Parijat Singh, its lone representative in the council of ministers, to press for a judicial inquiry. The Opposition Manipur Peoples’ Party submitted a memorandum to governor Gurbachan Jagat demanding a CBI inquiry and the government’s dismissal.
Rabina Devi and Ch. Sanjit were killed and five other civilians wounded in the shootout.
The police said firing by Sanjit had led to the woman’s death and claimed they had later killed him inside a medicine store. The people, however, alleged that Rabina had died in police firing and Sanjit was not a militant.
But tempers have risen since a portal posted pictures two days back showing policemen leading Sanjit into a pharmacy and then coming out with his body.
Today, Sanjit’s locality, Khurai, resembled a battleground. The police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets while the protesters, mostly young boys armed with catapults, hit back with marbles and pebbles.