New Delhi: The Manipur government’s slackness in responding to the crisis in time and the BJP’s divisive politics are to be blamed for the communal violence in the northeastern state, a senior Congress leader said on Thursday. “The state government was slack in responding to the crisis, which has snowballed in Manipur. The communal violence is the result of BJP’s divisive politics,” Lok Sabha MP from Nagaon in Assam and Convenor of the Northeast Congress Coordination Committee (NECC) Pradyut Bordoloi told ETV Bharat.
“The people of the north-east are generally secular and tolerant in their approach. Such attacks on churches used to be reported in tribal states like Chhattisgarh and Odisha, but were unheard of in the northeast region,” he said. Bordoloi further said that he was in touch with the Manipur Congress leaders and had urged them to do whatever was needed to restore peace.
“The priority at this stage is to restore normalcy and peace. Our state unit is fully active there. Whether a NECC delegation needs to visit Manipur or not we will discuss later,” said Bordoloi. The Congress MP’s comments came a day after violence erupted across Manipur following protest rallies by tribals in 10 districts on Wednesday. Army had to be deployed to control the situation.
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Bordoloi termed the violence as unfortunate and blamed the local administration for its delayed response. “The problem started with incidents in the Churachandpur area, which were very unfortunate. It should have been dealt with urgency. But, the state government and the local administration were complacent, which led to the present escalation. It is the state government’s incompetence that such escalation was allowed. They didn’t do anything. They did not step in at the right moment. They should now put an end to the raging violence and bring the attackers to book,” said Bordoloi.
According to the Congress MP, the violence in Manipur seemed pre-planned. “They are torching the churches and targeting the Christians, who are a minority. This probably has been engineered and instigated by vested interests. The BJP has just looked the other way. It seems they are both complacent and complicit in the violence,” he said.
Bordoloi further said the recent developments marked the collapse of administration in the state as mobile data services had to be suspended in Manipur for five days. “This could have been avoided,” he said. The top Congress leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, also expressed concern over the violence in Manipur. “Deeply concerned about Manipur’s rapidly deteriorating law and order situation. The Prime Minister must focus on restoring peace and normalcy. I urge the people of Manipur to stay calm,” Rahul tweeted.
“Manipur is burning. BJP has created fissures among the communities and destroyed the peace of a beautiful state. BJP’s politics of hate, division and its greed for power is responsible for this mess. We appeal to the people from all sides to exercise restraint and give peace a chance,” Kharge tweeted.
“The reality of the double engine government: Set fire to the state, stay silent at the Centre. In less than 15 months of BJP forming a government, the entire state of Manipur is in flames. But, Home Minister Amit Shah and PM Modi are busy campaigning in Karnataka,” Congress communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
