The location where Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was supposed to hold a programme on Friday in the state’s Churachandpur district was vandalised and set on fire by a mob. Today, the chief minister is supposed to open a gym and sports complex.

Following the event, Churachandpur implemented Section 144 and temporarily prohibited Internet use. The enraged mob was seen destroying everything inside the facility, including seats, and setting fire to the gym’s brand-new sports equipment. The crowd was promptly dispersed by local police, but the facility had already suffered damage from hundreds of flaming chairs. The situation deteriorated rapidly.

The agitated mob managed to partially torch the newly set-up open gym at PT Sports complex at New Lamka, which Biren Singh is slated to inaugurate on Friday afternoon, police told news agency PTI.

The district administration is yet to confirm if the chief minister’s program has been canceled due to the violence or not.

According to authorities, the enraged mob was able to partially burn down the recently constructed open gym at the PT Sports facility in New Lamka, which Biren Singh was supposed to dedicate on Friday afternoon. If the chief minister’s programme has been postponed because of the violence, the district administration has not yet confirmed this.

Tribal forum mob violence 

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, which has been protesting the BJP-led state government’s survey of reserved and protected forest regions in addition to the wetlands, is said to have led the mob violence. The state administration was charged by the tribal forum with destroying churches.

The forum claimed in a statement that it has been forced to engage in a campaign of non-cooperation against the government, impeding its initiatives and strikes in the district on Friday starting from 8 am. 

The forum has also received backing from the Kuki Students’ Organisation, which has accused the state’s indigenous people of having a stepmotherly attitude. Three churches in the state were reportedly destroyed earlier this month by the Manipur administration, who claimed they were built without permission.