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Congress team meets President Murmu, seeks intervention over Manipur violence
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said they sought her intervention “so that the extraordinary situation confronting Manipur can be redressed and normalcy can be brought in urgently”
A delegation of Congress leaders on Tuesday met President Droupadi Murmu and sought her intervention to help restore normalcy in Manipur, and a high-level inquiry panel headed by a serving or retired Supreme Court judge to probe the violence.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge led the delegation that handed over a 12-point charter of demands to restore peace in the northeastern state.
“Though there were several lapses in the management of the situation at the early stages of violence, leading to the present imbroglio. Now it is not the time to point fingers, but to act,” the Congress memorandum said, listing the steps that should be taken.
Union home minister Amit Shah landed in Manipur on Monday night, aiming to defuse ethnic tensions that have killed 80 people in the northeastern state this month.
Amit Shah is expected to hold talks with all stakeholders over the next three days. Manipur has been convulsed by ethnic violence since May 3, with the bulk of the clashes between the Meitei community, which constitutes the majority of the state’s population, and the Kukis, who live largely in the hill districts.
But after a period of relative calm, violence flared up in the past week with a string of clashes and shootings, culminating in Sunday’s deaths.
The home ministry also inducted a senior Tripura cadre Indian Police Service officer Rajiv Singh into the state police. In a rare move, the home ministry changed Rajiv Singh’s cadre from Tripura to Manipur. Singh is expected to be given a free hand to bring the situation under control.
In their memorandum, the Congress also called for firm and sustained efforts to control violence in every part of the state for the immediate restoration of peace, harmony, and normalcy, and urged President Murmu to ask the Centre to immediately take all possible measures to control and confine all militant groups (including those under suspension of operations pact) and ensure that all armed civilian groups be stopped forthwith by taking appropriate action.
The state government must immediately take over the management and maintenance of all relief camps and provide proper health and sanitation facilities for all, the Congress said in its memorandum.
Later, addressing a press conference, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the current situation in Manipur is a result of the divisive politics of the BJP which is clearly responsible. “It is the intelligence failure, the administrative failure and the political failure in Manipur,” Ramesh said, according to news agency PTI.
