Alleging that the violence in Manipur seemed “pre-planned”, the Congress on May 11 demanded immediate imposition of President’s Rule in the State to help restore peace and normalcy.
Congress party’s in-charge for Manipur, Bhakta Charan Das, also urged that relief and rehabilitation efforts need to be expedited and a compensation of ₹20 lakh should be paid to the next of kin of those who were killed in the violence.
The Congress leader also said ₹5 lakh should be given to those people whose houses were burnt and destroyed.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Das questioned why Home Minister Amit Shah has not visited the strife-torn State yet and why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained silent on the issue.
“The BJP government has utterly failed to control the situation (in Manipur). It has been unable to stop the violence, unable to stop weapons from being looted or recover them, unable to rescue innocent people and unable to provide facilities to those in relief camps. In this situation. We demand that President’s Rule be immediately imposed to stop these incidents (of violence) that are happening even now,” he said.
Noting that at least 1,700 homes have been damaged and more than 200 churches and temples burnt, he claimed that this has given a new communal twist to the tension between the Meiti and Tribal communities.
“The BJP government both in the State and at the Centre betrayed the people of all communities of Manipur. No democratic process was initiated either by the Union or the State government to fulfil these demands, he said. “Instead, conflict was triggered through undemocratic actions by the State government, including sudden evacuation of villagers from 38 villages in forest areas, the spread of violence by BJP functionaries at protest sites, and provocation from the Chief Minister with his arrogant utterances,” he alleged.
