The Congress on Monday said that the Union government has forgotten about the crisis in Manipur as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “obsessed with G20”.
The G20 summit will be held on September 9 and September 10.
In a tweet, Congress General Secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh alleged that Chief Minister N Biren Singh has ensured that the Manipuri society is more divided now than ever before and that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has failed to put an end to the violence.
“The prime minister refuses to visit Manipur, or lead an all-party delegation, or initiate any credible peace process,” said Ramesh. “Has he even met his own colleague from Manipur in the Cabinet?”
The Congress leader stated that there is a complete and total breakdown of the constitutional machinery and trust between communities in Manipur due to the crisis. “In the last four months, the world has witnessed how the prime minister has failed Manipur during its worst crisis.”
Over 195 people have been killed since the conflict broke out between the Meiteis and the Kukis on May 3. Nearly 60,000 persons have also been forced to flee their homes. The state has reported cases of rape and murder, and mobs have looted police armoury and set several homes on fire despite the heavy presence of central security forces.
Opposition parties have repeatedly blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre and the state government for failing to control the violence.
During a press conference last month, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had said that Modi was laughing and cracking jokes in Parliament at a time when violence has been raging in Manipur.
“Women and children are dying over there, people are being murdered, women are being molested, raped and the prime minister of India sitting in the middle of Parliament was shamelessly laughing,” said Gandhi.
The Congress MP was referring to Modi’s speech on August 10 during a debate on a no-confidence motion. The Opposition parties had brought the motion in an attempt to have the prime minister address the Manipur conflict.
In the speech lasting over two hours, Modi spoke about Manipur for barely 10 minutes. His first reference to the violence-hit state came after 90 minutes and once the Opposition MPs staged a walkout. The prime minister’s also mostly targeted the Congress and its allies in his speech.
Gandhi also alleged that Modi “wants Manipur to burn” and is deliberately not using the instruments under his control to contain the violence.
“It will take the Indian Army two days to put an end to the nonsense that is going on in Manipur,” the former Congress chief said. “The prime minister refuses to stop the fight.”
A multi-party delegation of the 21 opposition MPs from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance went to Manipur in July to assess the situation in the strife-torn state.
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