INDIA MPs in Manipur | Was Centre sleeping till now, asks Adhir Chowdhury

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday (July 29) expressed concern over the ethnic conflict in Manipur, stating that it is tarnishing India’s image. He urged all parties to work together and seek a peaceful resolution to put an end to the conflict.

A delegation of 21 MPs from the opposition bloc INDIA reached Imphal earlier in the day to assess the ground situation in the ethnic strife-torn state.

Chowdhury told reporters after visiting a relief camp in Churadhandpur, “They are talking of investigation by CBI (into the crimes committed)… I would like to ask were they (central government) sleeping till now?”

“We have come here to meet victims of ethnic clashes and understand the problem. We want the end of violence and the restoration of peace at the earliest…the entire world is watching what is going on in Manipur,” Chowdhury told PTI.

TMC leader Sushmita Dev said the team will speak with representatives of both the communities. “Everyone’s voice must be heard. We will be talking to both Kukis and Meiteis,” she said.

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Another team, comprising Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and others, went to a relief camp at Don Bosco School in Churachandpur. “We are here to spread the message of peace,” Gogoi said.

After returning to Imphal, the team led by Chowdhury will visit a relief camp at Moirang College in Bishnupur district by road to meet victims from the Meitei community. The other team of opposition MPs will go to the Ideal Girls College relief camp at Akampat in Imphal East district and will visit another camp at Lamboikhongangkhong in Imphal West.

मणिपुर के लोग बेहद डरे हुए हैं।

इनका सरकार पर से विश्वास पूरी तरह से उठ चुका है। इन्हें पता है सरकार हमारी कोई मदद नहीं करेगी।

: मणिपुर में INDIA डेलिगेशन के सदस्य @adhirrcinc जी pic.twitter.com/Uv4NV4ESVO

— Congress (@INCIndia) July 29, 2023

He also said, “The ethnic clashes have damaged the image of Manipur, the northeast region and India as a whole. We all have to try for a peaceful solution. We are here not to do any politics.”

The MPs reached Imphal by a commercial flight from Delhi.

Asked about the BJP’s allegations of politicisation of the Manipur issue, Gogoi said, “We would have been very happy to be a part of an all-party delegation led by the prime minister. But he is completely missing from the scene. He has not uttered a single word about Manipur in Parliament.”

“The NDA is completely missing from the scene, but INDIA is present. INDIA stands with the people of Manipur. We will do everything possible to bring peace to the state,” he told PTI.

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Congress MP from Kerala, K Suresh, who is also part of the delegation, alleged that the Centre and the Manipur government have “badly handled” the situation.

“We have come here to assess the ground situation and meet victims of violence. After we return to Delhi, we will raise various issues, based on our observations here, in Parliament and will seek the Centre’s attention on such issues,” he told PTI.

The Congress MP also alleged that the BJP is “indulging in polarisation and has supported” one of the two warring communities.

“It is a problem created by the BJP to secure its political future in the state. The BJP has been trying to divide people on the basis of caste, religion and language,” he claimed.

मणिपुर में INDIA के डेलिगेशन ने राहत शिविरों में जाकर लोगों से बात की, उनकी तकलीफें समझीं और उन्हें हिम्मत दी।

हम मणिपुर में शांति बहाल करने की हर संभव कोशिश कर रहे हैं। हम सभी मणिपुर के साथ खड़े हैं। pic.twitter.com/meGrmEm2Rk

— Congress (@INCIndia) July 29, 2023

“The people in this beautiful state are suffering for the last three months and nobody from the government has come to listen to their grievances other than the opposition leaders. Today we have come here not to say anything, but only to listen to them. We feel their pain and that’s why we are here,” RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha told PTI.

DMK’s Kanimozhi said the MPs from the opposition bloc INDIA would hear the people’s voices from both communities.

“They are in distress and the central government has failed to resolve their problem. With the findings from our visit to the relief camps, we will meet the governor tomorrow morning and discuss the issues. We will then take our findings to Delhi and decide our future strategies accordingly,” the DMK leader said.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray Faction) Arvind Sawant) MP Arvind Sawant accused the PM of being silent on the Manipur issue in Parliament.

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On Sunday morning, the delegation of opposition MPs will meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey at Raj Bhawan here to discuss the ongoing situation and possible measures to bring peace in Manipur at the earliest, the MPCC official said.

Ahead of the visit, Gogoi had, in Delhi, called for an inquiry led by a retired Supreme Court judge into the ongoing ethnic clashes between the two communities in Manipur.

Besides Chowdhury and Gogoi, the delegation will include TMC’s Sushmita Dev, JMM’s Mahua Maji, DMK’s Kanimozhi, Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, N K Premachandran of RSP, JD(U) chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Aneel Prasad Hegde (JD-U), CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar and CPI(M)’s A A Rahim among others.

The team is scheduled to return to the national capital on Sunday afternoon.

“We want him to speak in Parliament, but not a single word has been said by him,” he alleged.

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Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur alleged that the visit of members of the opposition bloc INDIA to Manipur was a “mere show-off”.

After arriving at Kolkata on Saturday morning, the senior BJP leader alleged that when Manipur used to burn under previous governments, those visiting the northeastern state now did not utter a single word in Parliament then.

“When Manipur used to remain shut for months, they had not spoken a word,” he said.

Thakur said that when the delegation returns from Manipur, the members of the team “will not allow Parliament to function”.

More than 160 people lost their lives and many people were injured since ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals — Nagas and Kukis — constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.

(With agency inputs)