The Bharatiya Janata Party’s former Manipur youth wing chief M Barish Sharma on Monday claimed that he had received death threats from Meitei persons after a video, in which he can be heard blaming former Chief Minister N Biren Singh for the ethnic conflict in the state, was widely shared on social media, reported The Hindu.

“I have received death threats about what they will do to me, and where they will throw my body, from at least five people, after the video [went viral],” Sharma told the newspaper. “These are not Kuki people; they are Meitei.”

Sharma made the remarks about Singh earlier in the day during a sit-in protest staged by the Meitei women’s group Meira Paibis at his home in Imphal East district, according to Northeast Now.

The group was demanding an apology from Sharma for his allegedly defamatory comments about the women of Manipur in a social media post.

During a confrontation with the group, Sharma said that he was among “the first Meitei village volunteers to be arrested” by Singh, reported The Hindu, citing a translation of the remarks made in the video.

“Wherever he told us to go, we went and made war,” Sharma can reportedly be heard saying. “Let me say, Biren is the one who tried to break up Manipur.”

Singh resigned as chief minister on February 9 amid allegations from Kuki-Zomi-Hmar groups that his response to the ethnic violence in Manipur was partisan and that he had stoked majoritarianism.

Under Singh’s chief ministership, ethnic violence between the dominant Meiteis and the tribal Kuki-Zomi-Hmar communities left at least 258 dead and displaced more than 59,000 since it began in May 2023.

On February 13, the Union government imposed President’s Rule in Manipur. The Legislative Assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, was put under suspended animation.

Sharma told The Hindu that President’s Rule in the state was part of “Singh’s politics”.

“I do not know why this PR [President’s Rule] is being brought in now,” said Sharma. “There should be a government in the State. We will accept anyone the Centre chooses.”

He added that several members of the BJP’s youth wing and many village volunteers were clueless after the imposition of the rule “as there are no jobs, no opportunities”.

“Like everyone else, we have been used and thrown,” he was quoted as saying.

In October 2023, the Manipur Police arrested Sharma on allegations of being involved in a shooting incident in Imphal, in which five people were injured.