Radical Meitei group takes out rally in Imphal; CM defends govt

The present crisis in Manipur is the "handiwork" of a group of people who want to "disintegrate" the state, chief minister N Biren Singh said on Saturday, even as the day also witnessed members of a radical Meitei outfit taking out a rally in Imphal amid a fresh bout of violence that erupted earlier this week over the alleged killing of two students.

- Utpal Parashar

Singh, who was addressing a gathering at a programme in Imphal, however, did not specify the group of people he was referring to. "Even though we are facing hardships due to the crisis, we are still living together by god's grace," he said.

During the programme, Singh distributed 25,000 each as special assistance for the education of children of labour-card holders residing in relief camps.

During the day, when curfew was relaxed from 5am to 2pm in the state's capital city, hundreds of members of the Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei organisation, gathered at Kangla Fort and pledged to "protect" Manipur, which has been in the grip of ethnic clashes since May 3.

Clad in black uniform, members of the outfit later took out a rally till Thangmeiband Athletic Union Ground in the city where they paid tributes to their colleagues who were killed in the ongoing ethnic violence in the northeastern state.