Cong ridicules Rijiju's take on Manipur violence
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, March 08 2024:
Union minister of Earth Sciences, Kiren Rijiju's statements contending that the 10-month long conflict is nothing more than a dispute between two communities and related to a ruling of the Manipur High Court, is like rubbing salt to wound or pouring oil into a burning fire, said Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president K Meghachandra.
Addressing a press meet at Congress Bhawan, here Friday, Meghachandra said that while both the centre and state decided to maintain silence over the conflict, which had been going on for the last ten months, certain voices are trying to reflect on the matter ahead of the Lok Sabha elections so as to blame the people and divert their attention.
He continued that many incidents are happening in different parts of the state.
It seems that the central government has forgotten its responsibility in the matter.
The state government had admitted that the conflict was caused due to failure of law and order and intelligence.
Instead of taking the responsibility which a responsible government should do, the current government is all about blaming the people, which is highly unfortunate.
The people of Manipur are well aware of how the conflict began, he remarked.
Even though the conflict has been raging for over ten months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to speak a word and sincerely appeal to the people of Manipur to maintain peace.
Meanwhile, the union ministers have been making careless statements on the conflict from time to time.
External Affairs minister had informed the UN that the conflict was caused by illegal immigration arising out absence of border fencing, while the defence minister had claimed that the conflict was caused by illegal poppy cultivation.
Such statements have been used to divert attention from the core of the issue, the MPCC president said.
Meghachandra also said that the statements "blaming the centre for the conflict is foolish", is unfortunate as such remarks tantamount to branding the people of Manipur as fools.
In addition, if the conflict is truly caused by the High Court's ruling, why is there no violence in Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong, he questioned.
The MPCC president further questioned what has the government done till date to bring leaders of the two communities in dispute for talks.
As such, he urged the union minister to withdraw his remarks at the earliest.