Rahul Gandhi visits Manipur; Congress moves to fill political void
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, June 29: If Manipur was slipping away from the national attention, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi turned the spotlight on the strife-torn state. Gandhi was stopped in Bishnupur amid the police claim of the possibility of the grenade attack on him, the Congress leader flew to Churachandpur to meet the affected people at the relief camps.
The Congress had been pressing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Manipur, while a section of the party leaders had even floated the idea of President Droupadi Murmu going to the Northeastern state to appeal for peace. Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah had called an-party meeting in the national capital, which failed to bring any template for the political outreach to the restive tribes in Manipur.
Women turned out in a large number in Bishnupur and the police reportedly had to tear-gas them after they protested against blocking Gandhi to move further in the area onwards Churachandpur. Women in Manipur traditionally had been at the forefront against the security clampdown and lat week a group of 15000 of them had freed hardened militants, including a few who had been accused of ambushing security convoys.
Gandhi is accompanied by Congress general secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and Ajoy Kumar, IPS turned politician. Gandhi’s visit to Manipur also set off a slugfest, as the BJP fielded after a long gap its most voluble spokesperson Sambit Patra, who sought to rhyme “Rahul Gandhi and responsibility cannot walk together”.
Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also sister of Rahul Gandhi, slammed the Manipur police stopping the party leader going ahead by road in Bishnupur. The local police later said that there was a security assessment which suggested possibility of grenade attack on the convoys of the Congress for which they stopped Gandhi moving further, and advised taking helicopter instead.
Since the outbreak of the ethnic violence on May 3 after the Manipur High Court directed that the majority Meitei, residing in the Imphal valley, be included in the list of scheduled castes, over 100 people have died in the state. The arsonists have specially targeted the houses of the BJP leaders, setting them on fire, which also included the house of a Union Minister.
In some quarters, it has also been suggested that the restive Kukis set out for arsons after the crackdown on the narco trade in the state, besides anti-encroachment drive in Manipur launched by the N. Niren Singh government. The Opposition has demanded imposition of the President’s Rule to bring normalcy, as despite the deployment of the army situations still reportedly remain tense.
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