Gong takes a dig at Shah's Guwahati visit
Source: Chronicle News Service
New Delhi, May 25 2023:
The Congress on Thursday attacked Home Minister Amit Shah over his Assam visit, saying he goes all the way to Guwahati but does not deem it fit to visit Manipur which has been "burning for 22 days".
Shah is on a day-long vis-it to Assam to attend three events to mark the com-pletion of two years of the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government in the state.
Taking a dig at Shah, Con-gress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "The Union Home Minister goes all the way to Guwahati today, but does not deem it fit to visit Imphal when Manipur has been burning for 22 days." "This is the same Union Home Minister who held 16 rallies and 15 road shows in Karnataka, but cannot find time for the people of Manipur who are suffering a lot due to the ideology and politics of the so-called Double Engine Sark-ar," Ramesh said in a tweet.
Later, at an event in Guwa-hati, Shah said that he will travel to Manipur to resolve all disputes, but all groups should remove mistrust and suspicion among themselves.
The Congress on Wednesday had demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi call a meeting of community lead-ers of Manipur in an effort to bring peace in the ethnic violence-hit state.
Congress leader Ajoy Kumar had said India is in "danger" if things are not set right in the north-eastern state as it shares the international bor-der with Myanmar.
Clashes broke out in Mani-pur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts of the state on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) sta-tus.
The violence in Manipur was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villag-ers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.
The ethnic clashes claimed over 70 lives and some 10,000 army and paramilitary per-sonnel had to be deployed to restore normalcy in the state.