Manipur crisis updates: 21 Members of Parliament (MPs) of the newly formed Opposition bloc INDIA alliance on Wednesday addressed a letter to President Droupadi Murmu wherein they raised the hardship faced by the people of Manipur. Since May 3, the strife-torn northeastern state has been beset with ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities.
In the letter, the MPs stated that the people of Manipur are living in a state of constant fear and insecurity coupled with food shortages and lack of availability of relief materials. They added that the people of Manipur need secure and just rehabilitation to build their lives.
“People in relief camps are facing hardships with low availability of food and relief materials. They are living in a state of permanent fear and insecurity, and are in need of a secure and just rehabilitation to build their lives,” the INDIA MPs wrote in their letter to the President dated August 2.
The letter was shared by Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter). “The 21 INDIA MPs who were in Manipur on July 29th and 30th met the Hon'ble President of India this morning along with the floor leaders of INDIA parties. They also handed over a memorandum to the Hon'ble President urging her intervention to establish peace & harmony in Manipur,” Ramesh posted.
The Opposition MPs further claimed that around 60,000 people have been displaced and are living in relief camps in dire conditions, especially women and children. MPs who signed this letter include Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Trinamool Congress’ Sushmita Dev, RJD’s Professor Manoj Jha, RLD’s Jayant Singh, Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant and DMK’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi among others.
The MPs, who sought the President’s intervention with regards to the situation in Manipur, had visited the strife-torn northeastern state on July 29 and 30. The delegation of MPs had also visited relief camps in the state including those in Churachandpur, Moirang and Imphal and interacted with people to understand their concerns.
They also detailed how their request for a detailed discussion and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the issue has been shunted down in both the Houses of the Parliament.
“The silencing of the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who represents the voice of the people and is a source of reason and rationality in the house, and the intermittent switching off of his mic in the Parliament is a new low in our Parliamentary democracy and is highly concerning,” the letter read.
The Opposition was referring to Congress president and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s comment that his mic was turned off while he was speaking in the House last week. Kharge had called this an “insult” and said that he will understand it is no longer a democracy “if the House is run on the instructions of the government” .
Mallikarjun Kharge questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s absence from the Parliament. "When so many people want to talk about this, why are they not ready to talk? Why Modi 'sahab' does not come here and explain the situation? Outside, he talks about East India company, but he is not ready to talk about Manipur in the House," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
The MPs further wrote the almost three-month-long ban on internet has led to mistrust among communities and allowed the spread of misinformation. Closure of schools and colleges in the northeastern state for nearly three months has also adversely impacted the education and learning of children and youth, they said.
Violence broke out in Manipur around three months ago after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Tensions escalated in the northeastern state after a May 4 video went viral last week. The viral video featured two women being paraded naked and molested by armed miscreants. The violence has so far claimed over 160 lives, displaced thousands of people and caused widespread destruction of property.
(With PTI inputs)