The Centre on Thursday imposed President’s rule in strife-hit Manipur with the BJP’s efforts to find a consensus chief minister remaining unsuccessful in the four days since the resignation of N. Biren Singh.

Just as it took the BJP central leadership 21 months to secure Biren’s exit despite his ineffective handling of the ethnic strife, it has taken 260 deaths and the displacement of 60,000 people for President’s rule to be clamped.

Observers suggested the Union government had waited for Parliament to go into recess — the first leg of the budget session ended on Thursday — so that it would not have to make a statement or face questions in the House over the decision.

Sources said that with central rule kicking in, the BJP and its allies will now get some more time to find a consensus chief minister. Both the central and state governments are headed by the BJP.

The Union home ministry notification announcing central rule quoted President Droupadi Murmu as saying she had received a report from Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla.

“…And after considering the report and other information received by me, I am satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of that State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India,” the notification quoted Murmu.

“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by article 356 of the Constitution and of all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I hereby proclaim that I — (a) assume to myself as President of India all functions of the Government of the State of Manipur and all powers vested in or exercisable by the Governor of that State.”

Later at night, a Raj Bhavan statement said the Assembly had been placed under suspended animation, which means it can be revived.

This is the 10th time Manipur has come under President’s rule, which was last imposed from June 2, 2001, to March 5, 2002.

Sources said the administration was now expected to crack down on armed troublemakers to try and restore normalcy. Since the violence erupted on May 3, 2023, the warring Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities have for reasons of safety been unable to enter each other’s areas.

Several developments over the past few days had sparked speculation about possible President’s rule.

One of them was the governor’s decision, just hours after Biren’s resignation on Sunday, to scrap his January 24 order summoning the Assembly from February 10. Another was his failure to subsequently summon the Assembly session within the mandated six months after the last session. A third factor was the tightening of security in and around Imphal.

“The Centre was almost compelled to take the decision (to clamp President’s rule) because it was not being able to resolve the ongoing ethnic conflict, and there was no successor to Biren Singh even after four days of talks,” Imphal-based writer and columnist Pradip Phanjoubam told The Telegraph.

“And then there was the constitutional crisis linked to the governor not summoning the Assembly within the mandated six months after the previous session.”

The delay in appointing a successor to Singh had left the state’s people and political parties –even BJP leaders — confused.

“We don’t know what’s happening. We don’t know why it’s taking so long to name a chief minister. We don’t know what the status of the state Assembly is. Everybody is silent,” a BJP member had said earlier on Thursday.

CRPF camp killings

A CRPF jawan, Havildar Sanjay Kumar, allegedly killed two of his colleagues and injured eight others before taking his own life at a camp in Manipur on Thursday, official sources said.