IMPHAL, April 1: Former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Tuesday, launched a scathing attack on the Congress party, accusing it of betraying Manipur by rejecting the state’s demand for the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in 2012.

In a post on X, Singh highlighted the Congress-led UPA government’s dismissive response to the issue during a Parliament session on September 4, 2012, when Congress MP Dr. Thokchom Meinya raised the ILP proposal. Singh claimed that the UPA government outrightly rejected the demand, stating that ILP regulations could not be extended to Manipur beyond Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland.

Citing the response of the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mullappaly Ramachandran, Singh emphasized that the Congress government denied Manipur’s demand by referring to the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873, which applied only to the aforementioned northeastern states. Singh accused Congress of failing to recognize Manipur’s unique history and identity, questioning whether the party ever informed the people of the state about the rejection.

“On one hand, Congress shamelessly denied Manipur’s legitimate demand for ILP. On the other hand, a young student, Sapam Robinhood, made the ultimate sacrifice for this cause. Did Congress even attempt to engage with the people? No. They remained silent, unmoved, and absent from the ground,” Singh wrote.

He also accused the Congress party of treating Manipuris as second-class citizens and neglecting the state’s aspirations. Singh recalled that Manipur was first reduced to a Union Territory after the 1949 Merger Agreement, with statehood granted only “grudgingly” in 1972. He alleged that Congress had historically neglected the region, while also accusing the party of appeasing illegal immigrants.

Singh’s comments serve to reignite the long-standing debate over the ILP issue in Manipur, a contentious subject for several years. In stark contrast, Singh praised the BJP government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, for finally fulfilling the decades-old demand for ILP in 2019. He stated, “It was the BJP Government under Hon’ble Prime Minister @narendramodi and Hon’ble Home Minister @AmitShah that finally respected Manipur’s sentiments. They understood the unique history and socio-political realities of the state. In 2019, they fulfilled a long-standing demand and gave Manipur the ILP, a constitutional safeguard we had been fighting for, for decades.”