Rahul Gandhi arrives in Manipur on 2-day visit

Imphal: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in Imphal on Thursday on a two-day visit to Manipur, where the ethnic violence since May 3 has so far claimed 120 lives.

Immediately after his arrival, he left for Churachandpur, one of the worst-hit hill districts, and from there he will proceed to Bishnupur to meet affected families in relief camps.

Over 50,000 men, women and children, are now staying in more than 350 relief camps across the state since the violence first erupted.

The senior Congress leader will also interact with the civil society organisations , tribal and non-tribal leaders, as well as prominent citizens in the two districts.

The Congress has been demanding imposition of the President’s Rule in Manipur to control the law and order situation as the party claims that the state’s BJP government has completely failed to deal with the violence.

Earlier, a few Congress delegations visited the state and later met President Droupadi Murmu in Delhi to garner support for their demands.

The Congress leaders also tried to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi but he did not give appointment to Congress leaders.

Former three-term Manipur Chief Minister and currently Congress legislature party leader, Okram Ibobi Singh criticised the BJP state government for its refusal to withdraw the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the Kuki militants, signed by the previous Congress regime in August 2008.

He said that the SoO deal was signed after extensive consultations with various national agencies, serving as a peace initiative and the Congress firmly believes in pursuing peace as a means to find solutions as opposed to resorting to violence.

“The Kuki militants under the SoO agreement strictly followed the ground rules resulting in no reports of violence attributed to them during the Congress regime (until 2017). However, the militants began flouting the ground rules under the BJP regime in Manipur, utilising them for electoral gains,” the veteran Congress leader told the media.