Last year, over 500 civil society groups expressed their discontent with the BJP government’s handling of the Manipur situation, highlighting the “silence” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as particularly troubling. Despite the escalating crisis since May 3, 2023, the BJP-led central government continues to support the biased and prejudiced Biren Singh administration. More than 200 have been killed and around 60,000 people displaced by the ethnic violcne. Modi on April 15, this year and in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, had asserted that the Central government’s timely intervention had led to a “marked improvement in the situation” in Manipur. This was one of the few times that the prime minister had spoken of the conflict. Rahul had stated in Imphal on July 8 that the ground reality as he witnessed since his earlier two visits and on July 8 maintained that the situation has not improved at all. It may be recalled that even the Assam Rifles in a confidential report, had indicted the Biren Singh government of fuelling the crisis. Rahul visited Manipur for the third time on July 8 where he requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come to the ethnic strife-affected state to offer some solace to the people, while asserting his party’s support to any government move to bring back peace. Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to Manipur, his third trip to the region, visited relief camps in Manipur’s Jiribam and Churachandpur districts and interacted with the inmates. People displaced by the ethnic violence in the north eastern state, which claimed over 200 lives since May last year, are staying in those relief camps. This one-day visit on Monday marked Gandhi’s third journey to Manipur since the violence erupted in May 2023. His initial visit occurred in June 2023, followed by a subsequent trip on January 15 this year, where he launched his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the state. In the Lok Sabha, Congress’ first time MP from Inner Manipur A. Bimol Akoijam had expressed his anguish over the absence of any reference to ethnic violence-hit Manipur in President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. On his part Modi preferred to respond to Akoijam in the Rajya Sabha. BJP’s accusations that Rahul Gandhi is politicizing the Manipur issue are unfounded. As a politician, it is his role to highlight the inadequacies of the BJP’s claims that the crisis is solely due to drug runners and illegal immigrants. If Manipur is indeed the BJP’s solution to these problems, it raises serious concerns about the party’s constitutional obligation with its support for Biren Singh’s administration. Singh has reportedly allowed armed militias to run amok and turned a blind eye when his state police clashed with the army and security forces, who were trying to protect unarmed civilians. Rahul’s repeated visits emphasize the urgency of addressing the crisis, contrasting sharply with the central government’s approach, which many critics view as insufficient and negligent. So long as the Modi government continues to play politics in Manipur by shielding BJP chief minister Biren Singh, the situation in Manipur can never return to normalcy as people have lost faith in the government. While the nation and the world have understood the real situation in Manipur; yet the Modi government still lives in denial by defending the indefensible.
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