NEW DELHI: Countering Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertion of normalcy in Manipur, the Congress on Tuesday questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not yet visited the state if the situation was truly stable.Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh posed four questions to the Centre, criticising the Government for Modi’s lack of engagement with the state. Ramesh queried, “If the situation in Manipur today is as normal as the self-proclaimed Chanakya has described it, if the Chief Minister of Manipur is doing good work as the self-proclaimed Chanakya said today, if the process of dialogue with various communities is underway as claimed today by the self-styled Chanakya, then why did the non-biological Prime Minister not find time to visit Manipur or show the will to go there? Why did the non-biological Prime Minister not hold any meeting with the state leaders, including the Chief Minister, for any meaningful discussion?” Ramesh wrote on ‘X’.This response came after Shah’s press conference on Tuesday morning, in which the Home Minister claimed that the Government is engaging with both the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur to ensure lasting peace. Shah also mentioned that the Government has begun fencing the country’s border with Myanmar to curb infiltration. He stated that, apart from three days of violence last week, the overall situation in Manipur has been calm, and the Government has been working to restore peace in the restive Northeastern state.Ramesh also raised concerns about the absence of a full-time Governor and the Chief Secretary from the state for the past 45 days. He questioned, “Why are several MLAs and ministers no longer in the state and why has the grand BJP office in Imphal been locked?”The ethnic violence in Manipur initially erupted on May 3 last year, following a tribal solidarity march in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
Source link
