The violence in Manipur would have been controlled by the fourth day had there been a prime minister of the Congress, senior party leader Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday and attacked PM Narendra Modi for not visiting the northeastern state that has been in the grip of ethnic strife since May last year.
“Manipur has been burning for several months, but our prime minister hasn’t gone there till date. Had it been a Congress PM, he would have gone there in three days and the fire there would have been doused on the fourth day,” Gandhi said.
The former Congress president was addressing a rally as part of his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Nagaon district in Assam.
Even PM Modi can control the violence in Manipur within three days with the help of the army, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not want to do it, Gandhi claimed.
“If the prime minister gives an order to the army, in three days they can stop it. But the BJP doesn’t want to douse the fire. That’s why the PM doesn’t go there and order the army to stop the violence,” he alleged.
Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic violence since May 3 last year as clashes erupted between the numerically dominant Meiteis and the tribal Kukis, killing nearly 200 people. Due to the violence, over 50,000 people have fled their homes in the northeastern state.
{{/usCountry}}Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic violence since May 3 last year as clashes erupted between the numerically dominant Meiteis and the tribal Kukis, killing nearly 200 people. Due to the violence, over 50,000 people have fled their homes in the northeastern state.
{{/usCountry}}More than half the state’s population of 3.2 million belongs to the Meitei community, while the Kuki community makes up about 43% and live mostly in the hills. The widespread ethnic violence has led to creation of community-based armed village defence volunteers as the fault lines have deepened beyond the Meitei-Kuki divide, pitting different communities and groups against each other.
The Congress leader had started the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Thoubal district in Manipur on January 14 with a promise to bring “peace and harmony” back in the northeastern state. The yatra traversing through 15 states will conclude in Mumbai on March 20.