E-Paper
Rahul Gandhi visits relief camps, meets governor in violence-hit Manipur
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked the government to address a lack of medicines and other facilities at the relief camps in ethnic violence-hit Manipur
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday visited relief camps at Moirang in ethnic violence-hit Manipur’s Bishnupur district and paid floral tribute at a memorial to the Indian National Army. He later flew to 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.
“I went to the camps and found a lack of medicines, etc. The government needs to take up necessary steps in this regard. Violence is not the solution...I appeal for peace,” said Gandhi before returning to New Delhi.
The Congress accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using “autocratic methods” to stall Gandhi on Thursday after his convoy was initially blocked from travelling to the violence-hit Churachandpur district over security concerns. Gandhi later took a government-owned helicopter to the region that has reported deadly clashes.
The BJP accused Gandhi of trying to stoke violence in the state as he became the first major Opposition leader to visit Manipur since ethnic violence erupted on May 3.
On Thursday, Gandhi visited two relief camps in Churachandpur and one in the Imphal East district.
The ethnic violence was triggered in Churachandpur after tribal Kuki groups called for protests against a proposal for granting scheduled tribe status to the majority Meitei community. It has left at least 118 people dead and nearly 40,000 displaced. Three people were killed in fresh violence in the state’s Kangpoki district on Thursday.
Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep and prompted the deployment of additional forces and measures such as the suspension of internet services. But tensions between the dominant Meitei community, which largely lives in the Imphal valley and comprises 53% of the population, and the Kukis, who reside in the hill districts and makeup 16% of the population, have continued to simmer.
