Will PM's visit make any difference now ?
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: September 21, 2024 -

WOULD a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the strife-torn Manipur be of any help in resolving the now over 16 months long violent ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Chin and Meetei communities?

This is a question we have been wanting to ask the leaders of Indian National Congress (INC), who have been repeatedly urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the violence-hit state and stressing that it would help restore peace and normalcy there.

Starting right from Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, to Mallikarjun Kharge, who is not only the president of INC since 2022 but also the LoP in the Rajya Sabha since 2021, and everyone in between, leaders of the grand old party have been wasting no given opportunity from taking jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his failure to visit Manipur, where outbreak of an unprecedented violent conflict between two communities has so far led to loss of hundreds of precious human lives and displacement of thousands of families on both sides of the clash divide, apart from causing untold suffering to people of all other communities living in the tiny multi-ethnic society.

In the latest tirade that has come just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to the United States beginning from September 21 to attend the annual Quad summit and address the "Summit of the Future" at the United Nations General Assembly, INC's general secretary in-charge of communications jairam Ramesh took to X on September 19 and posed, "So the non-biological PM is going to embark on yet another high-profile global visit in between campaigning in J-K and Haryana. But why does he still adamantly refuse to go to Manipur? This refusal is simply inexplicable and really inexcusable. Why this continued and shocking insensitivity on His part? The people of the state still await Him".

This fresh tirade from Jairam Ramesh has come two days after he hit out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his remarks of "overall situation in Manipur has been calm and the government has been working to restore peace in the restive Northeastern state" made during a press conference on the achievements of 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government.

Here too, Jairam Ramesh had lost no time in posting two long but similar comments, one in Hindi and other in English, raising, numerous questions, "If the situation in Manipur is as normal as the self-styled Chanakya has made it out to be today, If the Chief Minister of Manipur is doing as good a job as the self-styled Chanakya has made it out to be today, If a dialogue process with different communities is under way as has been claimed by the self-styled Chanakya today, then Why hasn't the non-biological PM found the time and inclination to visit Manipur ever since the violence erupted on May 3, 2023?

Why hasn't the non-biological PM met with the political leaders of the state, including the CM, for a meaningful discussion?

Why is there no full-time Governor and why has the Chief Secretary not been in the state for the past 45 days?

Why area number of MLAs and Ministers no longer in the state, and why is the palatial BJP office in Imphal not functioning?"

All these tweets and aggressive posturing show that leaders of the main opposition party really want to hold the government, more particularly the Minister Prime, accountable for the sorry state in which Manipur has fallen in today.

This is a good thing.

But the pertinent question that needs to be understood here is - do the people of Manipur still look forward to any possible visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state?

As the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi should have reached out to the violence-affected people of Manipur, which is very much an integral part of India.

But after all that has happened in the last 16 months, the visit of any Prime Minister, non-biological or otherwise, is the least concern people have in their mind at the moment.

Take it in writing from us.