PM Modi in the frame as pressure mounts on CM
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: June 28, 2023 -

AS the ethnic tension nears the second month amid thousands of riot-affected people getting increasingly restive due to stoic silence of Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi on the Manipur violence, many would be hoping that return to normal life is in sight as the Prime Minister seems ready to intervene.

For the past many weeks the opposition parties had been criticising the Prime Minister’s silence and contending that his alleged insensitivity to suffering of the Manipur public is part of the BJP’s agenda to polarise the society and manifestation of the central government’s indifferent attitude to socio-political aspiration of tiny states which have no bearing on electoral politics.

Amid scathing remarks, PM Modi finally demonstrated that ha is indeed aware about Manipur passing through a critical phase as is evident from his chairing of the meeting on Manipur with senior cabinet colleagues, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri as well as high-ranking officials on Monday.

It is quite possible that PM Modi accorded importance to his state visits to the US and Egypt and entrusted the task of finding solution to the Manipur crisis to his lieutenant Amit Shah.

However, as violence continued even after Amit Shah’s four-day visit to the state, during which he personally met violence-hit families staying in relief camps, and his reconciliatory efforts evoked no positive response from the stakeholders concerned, there were apprehensions among cross section of the society that the situation will aggravate as the communities in conflict hardened their respective stand.

As reported, the PM-chaired meeting held minutes after his arrival from Cairo went on for over two hours and reviewed the situation in Manipur vis-a-vis inputs received from repre-sentatives at the all-party meeting convened by Snah while the Pnme Minister was abroad.

Whatever decision, if any, PM Modi would take on the Manipur crisis might not be placed in the public domain at-least for some days for working out policy or strategy acceptable to the warring communities would definitely entail thorough deliberations involving not only his cabinet colleagues but also feedback from the military intelligence as it is now clear that the conflict is no more about fallout of the enmity between the two communities but also involves interference and threat from foreign elements in the internal issue of the state as well as the country.

Even as the central government shall be engrossed to at-least ease the tension in order to facilitate formal commencement of the dialogue process between the affected communities, another crisis seems to be cropping up in the state centring on chief minister N Biren’s remarks about Amit Shah assuring to handle the situation in the hill areas while asking him to restore order in the valley.

CM Biren’s statement, in the thick of the oppositions’ demand for his resignation, has sparked a controversy with some interpreting it as technically ceding to the demand for separate administration for Kuki and its kindred tribes.

As such, the CM owes a thorough and convincing explanation to allay the apprehension without which continuation of the restive situation is imminent.