New Delhi: Around 11.30 am on May 27, 2016, Okram Henry Singh, a Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) MLA from Imphal East’s Wangkhei constituency, got off his vehicle in front of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (ND&PS) court in Imphal’s Lamphelpat area. Accompanied by his security escorts, Henry entered the special court.
A nephew of the then chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Henry was summoned to the special court in a drug haul case hearing. Henry was one of the five persons charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s Kolkata unit in a case related to the seizing of a huge consignment of drugs at the Imphal airport on January 11, 2013.
The consignment was reportedly brought to the Imphal airport from Kolkata in an Air Deccan flight.
Soon after the drug haul, a special investigating team of the state police was formed to probe the matter but investigation was later handed over to the central agency. Charges were framed against Henry and five others by the CBI on May 22, 2017, barely two months after the BJP-led government took over. Regular hearings have taken place since.
In the run-up to the state assembly polls in April 2017, the issue of Henry’s alleged involvement in the drug haul was highlighted by the opposition parties. The BJP, trying to unseat the 15-year-old Congress government, had made it a poll issue and used it as ammunition against the chief minister, Ibobi Singh. The party promised to clean the border state of the drug menace, an issue of concern to the general public.
Unfettered, Ibobi Singh had ensured a Congress ticket to O. Henry, an accused in a drug case. He won from the Wangkhei constituency.
Though Congress turned out to be the single largest party in those elections, the BJP, with help from its allies, formed a coalition led by N. Biren Singh. Soon after, Singh started his government’s campaign titled, “War on Drugs”.
Cut to August 19, 2020. The venue is the central office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi. A press meet is being addressed by BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, flanked by party vice president Baijayant Panda and Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh.
Behind them stand five legislators who have just resigned from the Congress to join the state BJP. The five had also put in their papers with the assembly Speaker on past August 11.
Among the five is Okram Henry Singh.
BJP president JP Nadda poses for a photograph with five former Congress Manipur MLAs who joined BJP, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020. Manipur CM N Biren Singh is also seen. Photo: PTI
What this move means for the Biren Singh government
Even before ushering in Henry, an accused in a drug-related case, the Manipur chief minister had come under a controversy after a state police officer, involved in operations against the drug menace, had told the Manipur high court that she had been under pressure from him to go slow in a drug case.
Also read: Why Is the Manipur Chief Minister Angry With a State Super Cop?
On August 13, the BJP-led government had also handed out the chief minister’s gallantry award to a policeman who had been caught with drugs. The case is still on. With All Manipur Students Union demanding a probe into the matter, the government, in a swift face saving exercise, suspended the officer and withdrew his award.
O. Henry was also one of the two Congress legislators who went against the party’s whip to vote for its Rajya Sabha candidate in the recent elections and cross-voted for the BJP. The other Congress MLA was R.K. Imo Singh, the son-in-law of N. Biren Singh. According to an Imphal Free Press report, it is not yet clear though whether Imo Singh, who had also resigned from the Congress after the cross-voting episode, has joined the BJP too. He had accompanied the chief minister to New Delhi.
Also read: Two Manipur Cong MLAs Reply to Show Cause: ‘We Voted for More Deserving BJP RS Nominee’
One of the star campaigners for Imo Singh, who had successfully contested the Sagolband seat in Imphal town in 2017, was Ibobi Singh.
This is not the first time in a northeastern state that the BJP has welcomed the very Congress MLAs against whom it had fired salvos earlier. One prominent example is Himanta Biswa Sarma, whom the BJP had accused of involvement in the infamous Louis Berger case in Assam through a booklet issued at its New Delhi headquarters. Since Himanta joined BJP, there has been little progress in the investigation into the case by central agencies.
O. Henry, reportedly, missed several appearances in court on “health grounds” even on days when his personal appearance was sought. In May 2019, the court had taken serious note of his failure to appear before it and had given him one “last chance” to rectify it. Hearings are ongoing.
Meanwhile, with the Congress MLAs switching over to the BJP, more attempts led by the Congress to topple the Biren Singh government seem unlikely in near future. However, as per the Imphal Free Press report, the rebels within the state BJP have followed the chief minister to New Delhi. A minister in the Biren Singh government, Th. Biswajit, who is considered a detractor of the chief minister, along with state president Saikhom Tiken, has been summoned by the party’s national leaders. As per the news report, “Speculation is doing the rounds that there could be some changes in the BJP-led coalition government”.
“Reports are also doing the rounds that the BJP’s central leaders could discuss the report submitted by party observers who recently visited Manipur after uncertainty within the coalition,” the report said.