N. Biren Singh

Nongthombam Biren Singh (Meitei pronunciation: /nōng-thōm-bam bī-ren sīng/; born 1 January 1961) is an Indian politician, former footballer and journalist who is currently serving as the 12th Chief Minister of Manipur since 2017 representing Heingang Assembly constituency in the Manipur Legislative Assembly since 2002 as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Besides being the chairman of Shri Shri Govindaji Temple Board, he is the first incumbent Chief Minister who serves as the president of the Lainingthou Sanamahi Temple Board (LSTB), the temple development board of Lainingthou Sanamahi of the Sanamahi religion since 2021.

N. Biren Singh was awarded Champions of Change in 2018 for his exceptional work to the nation. The award was conferred by the Vice-President of India Sri. Venkaiah Naidu at Vigyan Bhavan New Delhi.

Turning to politics in 2002, Singh joined the Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party and won the assembly elections from Heingang. He retained the seat in 2007 contesting with an Indian National Congress ticket after joining the party in 2003. Serving as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, he quit the party in 2016 before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2017, he retained his seat from Heingang again and was named the Chief Minister after his party gained Coalition and formed the government. In 2022 he once again retained his seat from Heingang. He has won the Heingang assembly constituency since 2002. Under Mr. Singh’s leadership that the BJP not only increased its seat share in the Manipur Assembly, from 21 (in 2017) to 32 (in 2022), but had also managed to weather several storms while running the government in the last five years.