Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Manipur to understand the ground situation.
He underscored the need for the Prime Minister to listen to the people of Manipur, after he met the displaced Kuki-Zo and Meitei people at relief camps across the State.
“It is important that the PM comes here, try and understand what is going on here. After all, Manipur is a proud State of the Indian Union,” he told journalists in Manipur’s capital Imphal.
“…I request him to take one or two days of his time and just come and listen to the people. It will comfort them,” he added.
Editorial | Walk the talk: On the Manipur crisis and reconciliation
Mr. Gandhi said he was disappointed that the situation in Manipur had not improved as he expected, after more than a year of violence. “I came to listen to the people, build confidence in them, and try to put pressure on the government so that it acts,” the Leader of the Opposition said.
“The need of the hour is peace. Violence is hurting everybody. Thousands of families were harmed, properties destroyed, and family members killed. I have never seen anywhere in India what is going on here. The State is completely split in two,” he added.
“The need of the hour is peace. Violence is hurting everybody. Thousands of families were harmed, properties destroyed, and family members killed. I have never seen anywhere in India what is going on here. The State is completely split in two,” he added.
“I want to tell all the people of Manipur that I came here as your brother, as somebody who wants to help you, work with you to bring back peace. I am ready to do whatever I can. Congress is ready to do whatever it can to bring back peace,” Mr. Gandhi said.
He said he met with Governor Anusuiya Uikey to express his disappointment with the lack of progress in the peace process in Manipur.
“My intention is not to politicise this issue further. I understand Manipur is in pain and it needs to get out of the suffering as soon as possible,” he said.
“I would request everybody to think about peace and brotherhood. Violence and hatred are not going to get any solution. The Indian government and everybody who considers himself patriotic must reach out to the people of Manipur for peace,” he said.
Apart from the Governor, Mr. Gandhi met Manipur’s Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi and Security Adviser Kuldiep Singh. He was accompanied by former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, State Congress president Keisham Meghachandra, and other party leaders.
Mr. Gandhi visited relief camps in central Manipur’s Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts and the Jiribam district bordering southern Assam’s Cachar district. Apart from the victims of Manipur’s conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities, he visited a flood relief camp in the Dholai area of Cachar.
“His third visit to Manipur post-violence shows his unwavering commitment to the people’s cause,” Congress said in a post on X.
Mr. Gandhi first visited Manipur a few weeks after the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023. He also began his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ from the State in January.
More than 220 people have died and about 62,000 people have been displaced in the ethnic violence that continues sporadically between armed radical and extremist groups of both the warring communities.
