The cycle of violence in Manipur continued on Tuesday with two people dying and at least five – including a top BJP youth leader from the state – getting injured in fresh firing between two groups. 

Police sources said the exchange of fire broke out at Koutruk village in Imphal West district and that the number of deaths is likely to go up. At least one person is also said to be missing. 

Manoharmayum Barish Sharma, a former president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha – the youth wing of the BJP – sustained injuries in the firing and has been rushed to a hospital. 

The sources said the gunfight erupted between village volunteers of two communities on the border of the Imphal West and Kangpokpi districts. There are also reports of residents fleeing the Kadangband, Koutruk and Kangchup villages in the Imphal valley following the fresh violence.

Tuesday’s incident comes just two days after a village defence volunteer was killed and four people were injured in a gunfight between two armed groups in an area between state capital Imphal and Kangpokpi district.

Over 180 people have lost their lives and more than 3,000 have been injured in the violence in Manipur, which began on May 3 last year, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Thousands have also been displaced and the opposition has been questioning why the violence has gone on for over eight months despite at least 60,000 personnel from the central security forces being posted in the state.

Another controversy has engulfed Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district on the heels of the Mandya flag controversy. This involved the removal of a right wing flag and a board bearing the name of right wing icon VD Savarkar. A protest took place over the removal in Bhatkal’s Tenginagundi today and the local BJP workers and panchayat members got into an altercation with panchayat officials.

The workers argued that VD Savarkar’s name board was installed with the approval of the panchayat, and they protested against the removal of the flagpole with the right wing flags.

The officials claimed that no permission was sought from the gram panchayat.

“Don’t think we are sitting quiet. We have permission. Is it a Pakistan flag that we put up? Who gave you the order to raze this?” said one of the angry villagers.

The Zilla Panchayat chief, along with senior authorities, decided to issue notices for all such structures built in the area under the panchayat. They will be allowed to stay only if they have the necessary permissions from local administration or local taluks.

If the mandatory documents are not produced within 15 days, the structures will be razed.

“We have decided to issue notices to all such structures in that panchayat. If they have the necessary permissions from local administration or local taluks, they will be considered.
Otherwise, 15 days time will be given to produce documents. If not, unauthorised structures and nameboards will be removed,” said Ishwar Kumar, the chief of Zilla Parishad.

Last week, a saffron Hanuman flag hoisted by a local religious organisation, was taken down leading to huge row in the village of Keragodu and nearby areas of Mandya district.

It led to widespread protests that escalated into a political conflict between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) of HD Kumaraswamy.

The flag was funded and set up by a section of villagers near a temple. Reports indicated the BJP and JDS were also involved.

But many people held protests and complained to the district administration, which later removed the flag.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren might step into his shoes if he gets arrested, sources in his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Party have claimed. Mr Soren will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate tomorrow in connection with an alleged money laundering case. There are chances that he might be arrested by the agency after his statement is recorded.

Mr Soren made the announcement at a meeting of the MLAs of the ruling alliance this evening. The MLAs have agreed since preservation of the government is crucial at this point.

“We, all the MLAs of the alliance, of Congress, are fully supporting the Chief Minister,” Banna Gupta, the state’s health minister who belongs to the Congress, told reporters late this evening.