Centre Working for Manipur Normalcy: Shah

NEW DELHI: After over 50 days of continuing ethnic clashes in Manipur, Union home minister Amit Shah assured the political leaders at an all-party meeting on Saturday that the government is working to restore peace in the strife-torn state. According to sources, the Union home minister said that the situation in Manipur is slowly returning to normal and that not a single person has died since June 13 in violence in the state. He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been monitoring the Manipur situation since day one and "guiding us with full sensitivity" to find an early solution to the problem.

During the detailed discussion on the prevailing situation in Manipur, several Opposition parties also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, the disarming of armed groups and a visit by a delegation of leaders from across the political parties, on which the government remained non-committal, the sources said.  

At the all-party meeting, while the Congress demanded the immediate sacking of Manipur's Chief Minister, the Samajwadi Party and a few others sought the imposition of President's Rule in the state, which has witnessed sporadic violence since May 3. However, the government asserted it was doing its best to bring back normalcy there, sources said.

During the meeting, Shah said all efforts are being made to restore peace in Manipur on the instructions of the Prime Minister, the BJP's Manipur incharge Sambit Patra told reporters after the meeting.
He further said that the Union home minister informed the leaders that all efforts were being made to restore peace in Manipur on the instructions of the Prime Minister. "The home minister also told the meeting that since the violence began in the state, there has not been a single day when he did not speak to the PM on the situation or the Prime Minister did not give instructions," Patra said.

The Congress, however, demanded that Singh be "immediately removed", as "no peace is possible with him heading the state government".

Talking to the media, former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who represented the Congress party at the meeting, said that the state government has failed miserably in providing effective governance when it was needed the most. "The chief minister himself has admitted publicly twice his failure to handle the situation and deal with the crisis. He has also asked for the forgiveness of the people."

He also said that this meeting should have been chaired by the Prime Minister, who has not said a single word on Manipur in the past over 50 days. "This all-party meeting would have been better if it had been held in Imphal," he said, adding, "All armed groups must be disarmed immediately without any compromise". He called for the visit of an all-party delegation to Manipur so that the grievances of each and every community could be heard and addressed sensitively.

Ibobi Singh said it was unfortunate that he was not allowed more time to put across his points towards the end of the meeting. Asked whether the home minister presented a roadmap for peace, he replied in the negative.

Echoing the sentiment, TMC leader Derek O’Brien also asked for an all-party delegation to visit Manipur and wondered if the Union government is "trying to turn Manipur into Kashmir"?

The Trinamul Congress demanded an all-party delegation be sent to the violence-hit state within a week as it questioned the government's handling of the situation.

"After the meeting of our leaders in Patna, within 24 hours, the Opposition spoke in one united voice for Manipur, the Northeast and India," O'Brien told reporters after the three-hour-long meeting held at the Parliament House complex.

"We expressed our concern about the incidents that have been going on in Manipur for the past more than 50 days. The home minister just listened to every one of us. And he said that he is looking after it and trust me, I’ll restore peace," the DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said.

Noting that it was not a failure of law and order, Shiva said, "It is a failure of the governance in the state and the Union government...The Congress and some other parties also demanded that an all-party delegation be sent to Manipur and we hope that the Prime Minister will hold a similar meeting after his return from the foreign trip," he said.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said the entire Opposition said in the meeting that the people have no trust in the person heading the state government and "you cannot have peace if that person is in charge".

"It was absolutely an open discussion. The entire Opposition said that there is complete mistrust in the political leadership of Manipur," he added.

SP's Ram Gopal Yadav and a couple of other leaders sought the imposition of President's Rule, alleging the "state government has failed" to maintain peace and the "administration has collapsed", the sources said.

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said all parties expressed concern over the Manipur situation and sought immediate government action to bring back normalcy.

Union ministers Pralhad Joshi, Nityanand Rai and Ajay Kumar Mishra, along with Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla and director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka, also attended the meeting.
Nearly 120 people lost their lives and over 3,000 have been injured since the ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3. Shah had visited the state for four days last month and met a cross-section of people in his efforts to bring back peace in the northeastern state.