Central Minister Rajkumar Ranjan’s House Torched in Manipur

Imphal: A group of miscreants torched the residence of Union Minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh in Imphal’s Kongba on Thursday night.

Singh is the minister of state of the Ministry of External Affairs. At the time of this arson, the minister was on a visit to Kerala.

According to reports, a group of around 50 miscreants attacked the minister’s house at around 10 pm on Thursday. The ground floor and the first floor of the house were damaged. As none of his family was present at the time of this arson, no one was injured.

Singh hails from the Meitei community of Manipur.

On Wednesday night, the residence of Nemcha Kipgen, the lone female minister in the Manipur cabinet was torched by a group of unidentified miscreants in the Lamphel area of Imphal West district.

No one was injured during this act of arson as no one was present inside the house when the arson took place.

Till now at least 100 people have died in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur. Curfew remains in force in 11 of the 16 districts of Manipur, while internet services remain suspended.

Clashes first broke out in Manipur on May 3 after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.