Indifference to Manipur's suffering, history will remember: Congress MP

Asking the Centre to take full responsibility of what has happened in Manipur, Congress MP A Bimol Akoijam on Tuesday, 3 September accused the government of being "complicit" in the crisis and likened its response to the laughter Draupadi faced when she was being insulted in the epic Mahabharat.

The Inner Manipur MP said despite the crisis, prime minister Narendra Modi thinks he does not need to go there, which shows the "seriousness and indifference" to the suffering of the state.

"It is insulting... It is like Draupadi's vastraharan, people were laughing as she was crying out. So, Manipur is crying out, for the insult, for the pain, and this not visiting amounts to that laughter. This amounts to insult and then you keep asking us to prove loyalty to the country. The suffering people are Indian citizens, these are not foreigners. Why shouldn't he (PM) visit?" Akoijam, an associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, asked.

Reacting to Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh's remarks that the BJP's loss in both Lok Sabha seats from Manipur was a reflection on his popularity, and not because his party was any less popular, the Congress MP told PTI, "He (CM N Biren Singh) is trying to save his masters, nothing else. He protects (Narendra) Modi ji and Amit Shah ji despite the fact that it is the government of India which is failing to maintain law and order."

Akoijam also said that Singh is taking the blame for his party bosses. "You are blameless. I am serving you, I am serving government of India. That is what he is doing. Just check how many will win from that BJP party in the next elections from Manipur," he said.

"He (Manipur CM N Biren Singh) defends PM Modi and Amit Shah. He claims that everything he has done is with the advice and consent of PM Modi and Amit Shah ji. If everything has been done with their consent, does that mean the firing and bombing on civilians are with the consent of the government of India? He is a classic example of a satrap... provincial head under the command of the lords in Delhi," Akoijam said.

He said the entire country should demand that Modi should visit Manipur.

"Manipur is a part of India; if it weren't part of India, I wouldn't have asked," he said.

There are 60,000 troops under the central government there but despite that violence has happened for last 15 months and the country must demand that the prime minister should intervene and resolve this crisis, the Congress MP said.

Hitting out at Biren Singh for his remarks that he would not resign, Akoijam said whether he likes it or not, he and Modi have been presiding over a "tragedy called Manipur".

It does not matter whether the chief minister resigns or not as it is about his own conscience, he said.

"There is a CM under whose watch people lost lives and their homes. Chaos is created, his cabinet ministers call for separate administration... He says no separate administration but his cabinet colleagues talk of separate administration. PM Modi should sit and resolve. I am leaving it to Modi's rajdharma, if he has it," he said.

The major player is the government of India and the chief minister is only a "rubber stamp" there, Akoijam alleged.

On Biren Singh promising to fully restore peace in the state in six months with the Centre's help, Akoijam said, "Sometimes I don't pay much attention to what he says because he has made many contradictory statements in the past. He gives the picture that it can be resolved within a couple of hours. Now he says six months."

"It is always about shifting goal posts. Now there is renewed violence which shows that there are people who do not want peace process," he said.

"This new round of violence is serious because it is using drones. I talked to security advisor Kuldiep Singh and asked whom do you suspect. He told me that there isn't any evidence but the pointers point to Kuki groups that have bombed these areas that come under my constituency," the Manipur MP said.

Use of drones to attack is a serious issue as this can reach the chief minister's bungalow, governor's residence or military establishments, he said.

"One of the most mysterious things at one level is that you have a situation that the constitutional order has collapsed. The CM cannot visit certain places. Bureaucracy is posted on the lines of community ...200 plus people have lost their lies, 60,000 have been rendered homeless and thousands of them are languishing in relief camps...It is a serious crisis.

"Yet the prime minister thinks he does not need to go there that shows the indifference or seriousness to the suffering of the state. That is the PM for you. He went to show solidarity with the suffering people due to the train accident in Odisha. The bridge collapse in Gujarat, he went everywhere and went and expressed need for peace In Ukraine and so on and in his own country, in one of his state, an unprecedented crisis has been happening and he does not go there," Akoijam said.

That will go down in the history of the country, he added.

His remarks come days after Biren Singh promised to fully restore peace in the state in six months with the Centre's help, and also ruled out stepping down, saying he has neither committed a crime nor spawned a scandal.

In an interview with PTI Videos, Singh revealed for the first time that he has appointed an emissary to hold talks with Kuki-zo and Meitei leaders. The clashes between the Kuki-zo and Meiti ethnic groups since May 2023 has left 226 dead, according to official count.

Akoijam's remarks also come in the wake of two separate drone bomb attacks in Koutruk and Senjam Chirang in Imphal West district, which resulted in the deaths of two persons, including a woman, and injuries to 12 others.