“Let the death of my brother be the end of the violence in Heirok,” said Heirok Youth Congress leader Ningthoujam Roshan, right after cremating his younger brother Rohit, 21. On December 22, masked gunmen broke into their home in Heirok Assembly constituency of Thoubal district in the wee hours and opened fire, leaving Rohit dead and their father seriously injured. Among those arrested by police was the brother of sitting BJP MLA Thokchom Radheshyam.
The previous night there had been a huge clash between supporters of the Congress and ruling BJP at Heirok bazaar. The injured included their neighbour Kh Rakesh, 30, who was shot.
As Manipur heads for Assembly elections early next year, such political violence, between the Congress and BJP — specifically, MLA Radheshyam and his Congress rival M Okrendro – has become a constant feature at Heirok. Since the killing of Rohit, the entire constituency has been under curfew. Apart from the district police, two companies of the BSF and India Reserve Battalion have been deployed.
Thoubal in general, including Heirok, has been a stronghold of the Congress. A four-time winner from Heirok, Okendro comes from a family of politicians and served as a minister in the Ibobi Singh-led Congress Government. In 2017, he lost to Radheshyam by 1,800 votes.
The defeat was rendered even more embarrassing for Okendro as it was the first election for Radheshyam, a decorated police officer who took early retirement to join politics. Observers…
