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Manipur: ‘No positive steps taken to build confidence’, say Left MP delegation
The joint delegation of five MPs from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Saturday concluded their three-day solidarity visit to violence-hit Manipur
The joint delegation of five MPs from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Saturday concluded their three-day solidarity visit to violence-hit Manipur during which they observed that “the administration is not serious enough to take positive & affirmative steps to build up trust and confidence within the people”.
The MPs also targeted the complete silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Manipur crisis.
The joint delegation consisting of three MPs from the CPI and two MPs from the CPI(M) included Bikashranjan Bhattacharya and John Brittas, Rajya Sabha members from CPI(M); Binoy Viswam, Sandosh Kumar P, Rajya Sabha members from CPI; and Subbarayan, a Lok Sabha member from CPI.
Speaking to reporters on the concluding day of their visit in Imphal, Rajya Sabha (CPI-M) MP Bikashranjan Bhattacharya said, “Building of confidence and mutual trust among the communities can be done with the assistance of the civil societies from each community but the administration is not serious enough.”
He said that the governor being the head of the constitution should play an active role with the assistance of the civil societies of all communities and should go down to the common people and try to build up the trust which the army could not do.
“Unfortunately we’ve noticed a lack of confidence with a section of the paramilitary forces from a section of people,” he said. “We’ve had interaction and we’ve found at the grassroots level there is no sense of enmity between the communities,” added Bhattacharya.
Supplementing it, CPI MP P Shantosh Kumar said, “We had an extensive visit and we understand that the gravity of the situation is more serious and both the centre and state governments have failed miserably. So the restoration of peace is the need of the hour.”
Stating that the PM never uttered a single word on Manipur even though he had time to practice yoga and many other things, CPI MP said, “This is not an issue of Manipur only but an issue of the nation. We’ll raise this issue in the Parliament.”
The delegation had previously also held an interaction session with civil society organisation functionaries and intellectuals at Hotel Imphal followed by meeting-cum-interaction with the party workers and functionaries at CPI Manipur unit headquarters in Imphal.
On Friday, the delegation met with Governor Anusuiya Uikey and discussed the unprecedented ethnic clash between two communities since May 3, 2023.
Manipur had been witnessing ethnic violent clashes since the first week of May.
The MPs on Friday also visited relief camps at Imphal East, Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts, besides attending the ‘Peace Convention’ at the Congress Bhavan in Imphal.
Previously while announcing their visit, the Left parties lashed out at the BJP government at the Centre and in the state, saying the “claims of the greatest governance through double engine government are now exposed to the marrow of its bones”.
Last week, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi visited relief camps at Moirang in Manipur’s Bishnupur district and paid floral tribute at a memorial to the Indian National Army. He later visited the state capital Imphal, where he held an interaction with representatives of student bodies, women, and intellectuals and met Governor Anusuiya Uikeyas before leaving for New Delhi.
Manipur has witnessed ethnic tension between Meiteis and Kukis since May 3 that have left more than 127 people dead and over 300 injured, with more than 50,000 displaced.
In the latest, four people, including a police commando, were killed as fresh incidents of violence convulsed in the early hours of Friday.
