Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi expressed strong concerns during a press conference regarding the ongoing violence in Manipur and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the situation.
Gandhi drew attention to the fact that when PM Modi spoke for two hours and thirteen minutes at a recent Parliament meeting, he only allotted two minutes to discussing the dire situation in Manipur, despite the fact that the area has been gripped by unrest for the previous four months.
He highlighted that handling the problem in Manipur should have taken precedence over bringing up political issues.
In addition, Mr. Gandhi related disturbing tales about his recent trips to Manipur’s Meitei and Kuki regions. He emphasised the entrenched animosities between various ethnic groups, disclosing situations in which security personnel were advised against inviting members of particular tribes because their lives would be in danger.
He used these examples to illustrate that the state of Manipur had been deeply fractured, leading him to assert that the region no longer functioned as a cohesive state with proper authority.
Mr. Gandhi also attacked the Prime Minister for what he believed to be a lack of use of all the tools at his disposal to stop the violence. He said that the violence could be stopped by the Indian Army in two days but bemoaned the fact that the Prime Minister was more intent on escalating the dispute than trying to find a resolution.
In his concluding remarks, Mr. Gandhi emphasised that PM Modi should put the needs and welfare of the populace above party politics in his role as Prime Minister. He highlighted that the prime minister’s job was to speak on behalf of the entire country, and he pleaded with PM Modi to use every tool at his disposal to bring back calm and start a productive discourse in Manipur.