People in Manipur have lost faith in the N. Biren Singh government and are pained by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the ethnic conflict in the State for more than two months now, a delegation of Left Front MPs said on July 7.
The five CPI and CPI(M) members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha — John Brittas, Santosh Kumar, and Binoy Viswam from Kerala, K. Subbarayan from Tamil Nadu, and Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya from West Bengal — visited relief camps in the Imphal Valley and Churachandpur district during their two-day visit from July 6.
Mr. Brittas said the delegation met Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey and briefed her about the situation as they witnessed in different parts of the State. “All around divide; gross mistrust. People have lost faith in Biren Singh Govt. Everywhere people are commenting about the silence of PM,” he said in a tweet.
“In Manipur, people are forced to become refugees in their own country. In the camps, people were telling CPI-CPM delegation about the divide-and-rule policy of the rulers. Common people have that insight. BJP has failed Manipur. They will have to pay the price for this treachery,” Mr. Viswam, also the CPI National Council secretary, said.
Expressing solidarity with the people of the violence-hit State, the Left MPs issued a statement earlier saying the “claims of the greatest governance through double engine government are now exposed to the marrow of its bones”.
The visit of the Left MPs to Manipur followed that of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from June 29 to 30.
At least 150 people have lost their lives and more than 60,000 displaced in the ethnic clashes between the Kuki and Meitei communities that broke out on May 3. The factors behind the clash includes a move to grant Scheduled Tribe status to the Meiteis.
