‘Bombs Hurled From All Directions’: Union Minister’s House Attacked in Manipur

Manipur has witnessed unrest and ethnic violence between the Kuki and Meitei communities since the beginning of May, which has claimed almost 100 lives and displaced at least 35,000 people.

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As violence continues in Manipur, the house of Union Minister RK Ranjan Singh was attacked by a mob of over 1,000 people in Manipur on Thursday night, 15 June. Singh was not at the house in Imphal at the time of the incident, officials said.

Manipur has been engulfed in violence that erupted between the Meiteis and Kuki tribes on 3 May.

Despite a curfew in Imphal, the mob reached the minister's house at Kongba. There were nine security escorts personnel, five security guards and eight additional guards on duty at the minister's residence at the time of the incident.

Reacting to the same, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP told ANI, "I am shocked. The law and order situation in Manipur has totally failed."

According to a security personnel at the minister's house, 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, was quoted as saying.

This is the second time that the minister's house came under attack.

Clashes had broken out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts on 3 May to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Last month, RK Ranjan Singh, who is Minister of State for External Affairs and Education, 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 had written in a letter to PM Modi on 21 May.