Discuss the role and limits of President's Rule in restoring order in States affected by ethnic violence, citing recent instances.

Article 356 lets the President take over a State's government when its constitutional machinery fails. Read with the Union's duty under Article 355 to protect States from internal disturbance [3], it is the Union's last-resort tool in ethnic conflicts. Manipur's experience from 2023 to 2026 shows that it can stabilise administration but cannot produce reconciliation by itself.

Role in restoring order

• Neutral, unified command: When the State government is seen as partisan, central rule puts police and civil administration under one authority that is not tied to either community. President's Rule was imposed in Manipur on 13 February 2025 [2].
• Parliamentary oversight: Both Houses have to approve the proclamation and any extension. Parliament approved the original Manipur proclamation and extended it from August 2025, which gave it some legitimacy [2].
• Space to rebuild politics: Suspending the elected government can calm rivalries between parties. Manipur got an elected government back under Yumnam Khemchand Singh on 4 February 2026 [1].

Limits

• It comes late: The violence began on 3 May 2023, but central rule came about 21 months later. By then more than 300 people had been killed and about 60,000 displaced [1].
• It treats symptoms, not causes: The Meitei demand for ST status and the hill-valley divide are still unresolved. The conflict has spread into Naga-Kuki clashes, with more than 60 killed since February 2026 [1].
• Democratic and federal costs: "Public order" is a State subject (Entry 1, List II), and under Article 357 Parliament makes the State's laws during President's Rule [3]. Local representation is lost. S.R. Bommai (1994) made the proclamation open to judicial review, which guards against misuse [4].
• No accountability: The Commission of Inquiry, set up in June 2023, has had its deadline extended repeatedly, now to May 2027, and has not yet reported [1]. Order without findings leaves the original lapses unaddressed.

President's Rule can steady a State's administration, but it cannot heal an ethnic conflict. It should stay a short, time-bound bridge, as the Sarkaria Commission urged and Bommai endorsed [4]. It also needs to come with early central help under Article 355, dialogue between communities, rehabilitation of displaced people and a time-bound inquiry. Used that way, it serves cooperative federalism and the constitutional promise of fraternity.