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‘Arms looted, people in camps’: Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi slams Amit Shah's defence of Manipur CM
Gogoi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove the Manipur CM on “moral grounds”.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Wednesday fumed over Union home minister Amit Shah defending Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh in Lok Sabha over the violence in the northeastern state, saying the “home department and the CM do not have the courage to accept their mistake”. “60,000 people are living in shelter camps, and they (the Centre) are saying that the CM is cooperating,” he said.
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"…Is this the kind of cooperation being extended by Manipur CM to the Centre where arms have been looted from police stations? Don't want such kind of cooperation, Gogoi told the news agency ANI.
He further urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove the Manipur CM on “moral grounds”.
Earlier while speaking on the no-confidence debate in Lok Sabha, Amit Shah said, “A state CM needs to be changed when he is not cooperating. This CM is co-operated with the Centre.”
Appealing to the Meitei and Kuki communities in the violence-hit state to engage in a dialogue, the home minister said, “107 people were killed (in Manipur) in May. 30 were killed in June, and 15 were killed in July. Out of the 107 people killed in May, 68 people were killed on May 3, 4, and 5. What I want to say here is that violence is reducing gradually and we should not add oil to fire.”
Also read: Assam CM blames Congress for Manipur violence; Jairam Ramesh says ‘only two real sins’
‘Politics over Manipur violence is shameful’
While Shah said that he is “pained” by the incidents in the northeastern state, he added that the politics over it is “shameful”.
“I agree with the opposition's claim that there has been excessive violence in Manipur. In fact, we are more hurt than them (the opposition). Such incidents have happened there that we should be ashamed of as a society. However, while the incidents are shameful, doing politics on it is even more shameful,” he said.
Violence in Manipur
Violence first broke out in Manipur on May 3 between the Meitei and the tribal Kuki community. Over 150 people have been killed in the clashes so far while thousands have been displaced. Several incidents of crimes against women also surfaced after a disturbing May 4 video of three women being stripped and paraded naked went viral on social media.
