If Manipur situation is as normal as made out by Shah, why hasn't PM Modi visited state: Congress

Hitting out at home minister Amit Shah over his remarks on Manipur, the Congress on Tuesday, 17 September asked if the situation was as normal as he had made it out to be then why hasn't prime minister Narendra Modi "found the time and inclination" to visit the state or met with political leaders from there.

Addressing a press conference, Shah said the government is talking to both the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur to ensure lasting peace and has begun fencing the country's border with Myanmar to check infiltration.

Barring three days of violence last week, the overall situation in Manipur has been calm and the government has been working to restore peace in the restive Northeastern state, Shah said at the press conference on the achievements of 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "If the situation in Manipur is as normal as the self-styled Chanakya has made it out to be today if the chief minister of Manipur is doing as good a job as the self-styled Chanakya has made it out to be today, if a dialogue process with different communities is underway as has been claimed by the self-styled Chanakya today, then why hasn't the non-biological PM found the time and inclination to visit Manipur ever since the state erupted on May 3, 2023?"

"Why hasn't the non-biological PM met with the political leaders of the state, including the CM, for a meaningful discussion?" Ramesh said in a post on X.

Why is there no full-time governor and why has the chief secretary not been in the state for the past 45 days, the Congress leader asked.

"Why are a number of MLAs and ministers no longer in the state, and why is the palatial BJP office in Imphal not functioning?" he said.

Shah, flanked by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, said apart from the three days of violence, no major incidents were reported in the last three months.

"There was peace in the last three days and I am hopeful that we will be able to control the situation. We are talking to both communities. It was ethnic violence and unless there is dialogue between the two communities, no solution could be found.

"We are talking to the Kuki and Meitei groups. We have prepared a roadmap and will take all possible steps (to ensure peace)," he said.

Shah said the government has successfully completed the deployment of Central Reserve Police Force personnel at strategic locations across Manipur.

He said in the first 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government, work on fencing the India-Myanmar border, which is the root cause of the problem, has begun.

The home minister also said the government has already scrapped the India-Myanmar Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows people residing close to the border between the two countries to venture 16 km into each other's territory without any documents.

Asked about the possible visit of Modi to Manipur, Shah said, when he visits the state, it will be known to everyone.

Ethnic violence has been going on in Manipur since 3 May last year after a tribal solidarity march in the hill districts of the state to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Since then, over 220 people belonging to both the Kuki and Meitei communities and security personnel have been killed in the continuing violence.