GUWAHATI: The BJP-led Manipur government has strongly criticised the Mizo National Front (MNF), describing it as an anti-national party following the latter’s call for Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s resignation. On Thursday, the MNF, Mizoram’s principal opposition party, accused Singh’s leadership of failing to resolve the ongoing crisis in Manipur and perpetuating the suffering of innocent people. In response, the Manipur government condemned what it termed the MNF’s “constant meddling” in Manipur’s internal affairs. “The Mizoram-based political party, whose Chief Minister (Zoramthanga) was routed in the last state Assembly elections, despite riding on a shrill wave of anti-national pro-Myanmar refugee propaganda and anti-Manipur stance, has come out with a press statement calling [for the] resignation of [the] Chief Minister of Manipur,” a statement from the Manipur government said. The statement went on to allege that the MNF has “consistently revealed its true colours as an anti-national party” by opposing the central government’s efforts to secure the porous border with Myanmar. “The ongoing crisis in Manipur is a creation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar whose economy, which is driven by cultivation of illicit poppy, had taken a severe hit under Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s War on Drugs,” the government’s statement read. “It is not on account of any religious policy of the state government, as has been falsely portrayed by the MNF and other vested interests, even on foreign soil and in various international fora, through fabricated narratives. The Mizo National Front appears to have also conveniently forgotten that the conflict, on the Kuki side, is funded by narco-terrorist elements,” it further stated. The Manipur government highlighted data on village proliferation to underline its argument, stating that the number of villages in certain Kuki-dominated districts of the state—Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Chandel, Churachandpur, and Pherzawl—had increased abnormally by 122% from 1969 to date, rising from 731 to 1,624.
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