Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the proposed visit of MPs of opposition coalition INDIA to ethnic strife-hit Manipur "will do good". Speaking at the assembly, Banerjee said she had also sought permission from the Centre for a visit to Manipur, but it was denied.
"A team of INDIA is visiting Manipur. It'll do good. Let them go and see the situation themselves, talk to the people there, and listen to them. I had written to them (Centre) to allow me to go, but I was not given permission," she said.
A group of MPs from the opposition alliance INDIA will visit Manipur on July 29 and 30 to assess the situation in the northeastern state which has been engulfed in ethnic violence since May 3.
The delegation of more than 20 opposition MPs will visit Manipur this weekend and will take a first-hand account of the situation in the state, Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore told PTI. Sources said that one MP each from the INDIA bloc parties or their representatives are expected to be part of the delegation. The delegation will visit both the valley and the hill regions of the state and meet different communities there. They will also visit some relief camps.
TMC's Sushmita Dev, JMM's Mahua Maji and NCP's Vandana Chavan are likely to be part of the delegation. Earlier, the opposition bloc had wanted a delegation of chief ministers to visit the state but the idea was dropped due to logistical issues, sources said.
The violence erupted on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts. (With PTI Input)
