Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday told an all-party delegation that imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur was not an option and the situation was soon returning to normal.
Mr. Shah chaired the meeting where Opposition members raised questions about PM Narendra Modi’s silence and demanded the resignation of CM N. Biren Singh. He informed the delegation that imposing President’s Rule is not an option in the near future, members who attended the meet told The Hindu.
He, however, remained silent on the CM’s removal. Mr. Shah said the PM was apprised of the situation even during the U.S visit and added that the priority of the Modi government is that no more lives should be lost due to violence. Former CM Okram Ibobi Singh was the only leader from Manipur at the all-party meeting but he did not get adequate time to speak on the current situation in the State, the Congress alleged.
Meanwhile, 12 cadres of a banned extremist group in Manipur had to be released after a mob led by women prevented the security forces from going ahead with the operation. The cadres belonged to Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL), a proscribed Meitei outfit. The group had ambushed an Army convoy in Manipur’s Chandel district in 2015, killing 18 personnel.
In Churachandpur district of the State, tribal student outfits held a silent “coffin march” to honour those killed in clashes between the dominant Meitei and the Kuki-Zomi tribal people. Thousands of protesters in the Kuki-Zomi-majority district marched along the highway to the Peace Ground in Tuibong, where the mini-Secretariat is housed. Dressed in black, the protesters carried 100 empty black coffins, symbolic of the tribal people who were killed in the violence. After reaching the temporary protest site near the mini-Secretariat, the coffins were laid down and the bereaved families placed wreaths.
A demonstration was also held by civil society organisations in Delhi on Saturday. While nearly a thousand people were present at Jantar Mantar, a representative of the Unao Women’s Tribal Forum of Delhi NCR alleged that the police prevented a lot of their people from showing up at the protest site.
The police, however, said the presence of cops on the buses, if at all, was likely for “routine checking”.
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In which city did the main opposition parties host an all-party meeting ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls?
- Raipur
- Patna
- Cuttack
- Ranchi
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Published - June 25, 2023 04:53 pm IST
