As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Manipur for the first time since ethnic violence hit the state in May 2023, the Congress on Saturday called it a “farce, tokenism, and a grave insult to a wounded people”.
Modi is in Manipur on Saturday and is scheduled to interact with internally displaced people in Churachandpur and Imphal. This is the Prime Minister’s first trip to the state since the ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities began in the region in May 2023.
Over the last two years, the Congress has repeatedly demanded that the prime minister visit Manipur, with the party even raising the issue of Modi’s “silence” in Parliament on multiple occasions.
On Saturday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said PM Modi’s “3-hour pit stop in Manipur is not compassion”, but is “farce, tokenism, and a grave insult to a wounded people”.
“Your so-called roadshow in Imphal and Churachandpur today, is nothing but a cowardly escape from hearing the cries of people in relief camps,” said Kharge in a post on X.
He mentioned that the state had witnessed 864 days of violence with 300 lives being lost, and 67,000 people displaced, and 1,500 people being injured.
“You made 46 foreign trips since, but not a single visit to share two words of sympathy with your own citizens,” said Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
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The Congress leader mentioned that PM Modi’s last visit to Manipur was in January 2022 and that it was “for elections” and said that “your Double Engine has bulldozed the innocent lives of Manipur”.
“You and HM Amit Shah’s gross incompetence and complicity in betraying all communities was shielded from scrutiny, by imposing President’s Rule in the state. Violence still continues,” said Kharge.
“It is the BJP which was responsible for maintaining law and order in the state and it is now the Union Govt which is again dithering,” said Kharge. “Not to forget, that is your government which is responsible for National Security and border patrol,” said the Congress chief. “This hush-hush pit stop isn’t repentance. It’s not even guilt,” he said.
“You are organising a grand welcome ceremony for yourself. It is a cruel prick to the wounds of those still suffering because of your own abdication of basic Constitutional responsibilities… In the words of your own… Where is your Rajdharma??” added Kharge.
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Senior Congress leader and MP K C Venugopal also hit out at Prime Minister Modi’s visit, saying it “is a display of how sorely lacking in empathy and compassion a leader can be”.
“Manipur is burning since 2023, and he found time to pay a visit today – after 2.5 years. This visit too, is a half-hearted measure with him spending barely a few hours there, and is clubbed with a visit to Mizoram,” he added.
Venugopal said that “neither has his government presented a solution to address the deep social rift that caused the civil war, nor do they have the courage to bring warring groups together and make a genuine attempt at peace”.
“Instead, he is treating this like any other PR event, treating his grand arrival as an occasion to celebrate. Such a tone deaf, insensitive and self-aggrandising stunt will be nothing but a mockery of the people of Manipur,” said Venugopal in a post on X.
