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Manipur violence state sponsored: BRS’s Kavitha hits out at Centre
Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Saturday blamed both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led central government and the Manipur government for the ongoing violence in NE state
Hyderabad
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lawmaker and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Saturday blamed both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led central government and the Manipur government for the ongoing violence in the north-eastern hill state.
Taking part in the short-discussion on tribal welfare and distribution of forest land among the tribals for “podu” (shifting) cultivation in the state legislative council, Kavitha alleged that the violence in Manipur was state-sponsored, as the BJP government in that state had created a rift between the two ethnic groups – Kukis and Meiteis.
“The BJP has pitted the two communities in Manipur against each other and turned the state into a war zone. It’s a state-sponsored violence. Everyone should condemn it,” she said, adding that both the central and the state governments had miserably failed to deal with the situation in Manipur.
Alleging that the saffron party was following the “divide-and-rule” policy for electoral gains, Kavitha said that in Telangana, the chief minister is heading the state on the path of development with the motto of “unite and prosper.”
Congress MLC T Jeevan Reddy appealed to the state government to pass a resolution in the assembly condemning the violence in Manipur. “The people of Manipur should know that people of Telangana are with them. We need to condemn the violence with one voice,” he said.
Reddy agreed with Kavitha that the BJP government in Manipur had failed in restoring peace in that state. “Yes, it is indeed a state-sponsored violence,” he said.
On the tribal welfare, Kavitha alleged that the Centre was not implementing the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act properly thereby infringing on the tribal rights. “Telangana is the only state in the country where the PESA Act is being implemented in letter and spirit,” she said.
The BRS lawmaker alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had diluted Forest Acts to benefit rich corporate houses by bringing in new forest conservation rules. She further said the Centre was not releasing funds to states under the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan.
“On the other hand, the Telangana government has brought the ST Special Development Fund (STSDF) under which it has allocated ₹91,531 crore and spent ₹56,000 crore on various schemes and development programmes for tribals,” she claimed.
