‘Visit Manipur and listen to people’, Rahul tells PM Modi

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 8, 2024

Leader of Opposition (LOP) Rahul Gandhi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Manipur, emphasizing the importance of listening to the concerns of the people and finding solutions to the problems faced in the state.

“After all, Manipur is a proud state of the Indian Union… Even if there was no tragedy, the Prime Minister should have come to Manipur. And in this huge tragedy, I request the PM to take one day, two days of his time and just listen to the people of Manipur. It will comfort the people of Manipur,” Gandhi told reporters at Rajiv Bhawan in Imphal after meeting displaced people from both Meitei and Kuki-Zomi communities in his first visit to Manipur after becoming Leader of Opposition (LoP).

Gandhi said he wanted to deliver a simple message: “I come here as your brother. I come here as somebody who wants to help you, somebody who wants to work with you to bring peace back to Manipur.”

“The Indian government and everyone who considers himself a patriot,” he said, “must reach out and embrace the people of Manipur and bring peace to Manipur,” he said.

He also said he had a message for Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “I feel that it is important that the Prime Minister comes here. Listen to the people of Manipur. Try and understand what is happening in Manipur.”

“It’s the third time I’ve come here since the problem started and it has been a tremendous tragedy. Frankly, I was expecting some improvement in the situation, but I was quite disappointed to see that the situation is still nowhere near what it should be,” he said.

“I visited the camps and heard the people there, heard their pain. I came here to listen to them, to build confidence, and as somebody who is in the opposition, to try and apply pressure on the government so that it acts,” he said in Imphal in the evening,” he said.

“I am ready to do whatever I  can, Congress party is ready to do whatever it can to bring back peace here. Anytime you want me to come here five times, ten times any amount of time you want me to come here, I am happy to come here. I am happy to listen to what you have to say and try to help you as the leader of the opposition,” the Congress leader said.

“We as Congress party are ready to support anything which could improve the situation,” he added.

Gandhi had first visited Manipur in June 2023, and next in January this year, beginning his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the state.

Gandhi arrived in Silchar in Assam’s Cachar district in the morning and visited a relief camp located in Hmarkhawlien village, where Kuki-Zo people displaced because of tensions in the neighbouring Manipur district of Jiribam are sheltering.

Around 2,000 people, both Kuki-Zos and Meiteis, have been displaced after a flare-up of violence in Jiribam – which has a mixed population – last month, after nearly 13 months of relative calm there amidst conflict in other parts of the state.

The Congress leader then headed towards Jiribam, where he met displaced Meitei people at a relief camp. From there, he returned to Silchar and flew to Imphal, and then travelled to Churachandpur district.

On his way back to Imphal, Gandhi stopped at Moirang in Bishnupur district, meeting displaced people in both places. He also met Governor Anusuiya Uikey.

Later, the Congress leader called on Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey at Raj Bhawan in Imphal.