‘Are you from Myanmar?’: Biren Singh’s official handle tweets to users, deletes

A member of Biren Singh’s social media team though denied that the tweets had been written either by him or his team.

Sections of the Meitei community see the Kukis as “outsiders” who originally belong to Myanmar. That is one reason for the underlying tension between the two communities, now reflected in the violence on for two months. The Kukis accuse the Biren government of bias towards the politically dominant Meiteis.

Screenshots saved by several Twitter users showed Biren’s official handle replying to a Twitter user’s comment that “You should have resigned long time ago”, with: “Are you from India or Myanmar?”

When another Twitter user commented that there is a large population of Meiteis in Myanmar and that all Meiteis here are not termed “Burmese”, the CM’s official handle responded, “Meitei in Myanmar never ask their homeland in Myanmar.”

Yet another user commented, “At this critical juncture, I wish to clarify that I am now a citizen of Zalengam”, Zalengam being a reference to the name for a proposed Kuki nation of Kuki-inhabited territories across countries. The CM’s handle responded, “Can be in Myanmar.”

The Kuki-Zomi people of Manipur share an ethnic bond with the Chin people of Myanmar. Before the violence began, tensions had been rising in the state over the constant talk on the part of the Biren administration that the hill districts populated by the Kukis were sheltering “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar.

Apart from the above posts, when a Twitter user said the situation in Manipur would have been different had Biren Singh acted promptly, his official handle responded saying, “How? Did the ATSUM announce that they will attack Meiteis during rallies?”. This was a reference to the rally called by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur on May 3, after which the violence erupted.

The CM’s critics said the “irresponsible” comments on his official Twitter handle were in line with past statements.

“These kinds of comments are not expected from a man in his position, and we condemn racial and discriminatory remarks. To stop that is the responsibility of the BJP. They must control the behaviour of their executives,” said K Devabrata Singh, Manipur PCC working president.

Ginza Vualzong, the spokesperson of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, a major Kuki-Zomi civil society organisation, said, “It only indicates his (Biren Singh’s) communal feelings towards the Kuki community. He was the one who spread communal hatred towards the Kuki and Zo communities by calling us illegal immigrants and poppy cultivators. This shows that he has not changed his mindset.”

The said tweets followed a day full of action on Friday, with rumours that Biren, who has been held by the Opposition as the man primarily responsible for the situation in the state, was going to resign. Following this, hundreds of people, especially women, gathered outside his residence demanding that he should not do so.

Finally, as his ministers came out with a “resignation letter” which was promptly torn, Biren tweeted around 4 pm: “At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister.”