What plans does the Opposition's INDIA bloc have for Manipur?

A delegation of Opposition MPs on Saturday embarked on a two-day visit to make an on-the-spot assessment of the ground situation in ethnically strife-torn Manipur.

They will meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey, and visit relief centres in the northeastern state.

Since 3 May, Meitei and tribal communities in Manipur have been engaged in ethnic warfare.

MPs from the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), DMK, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal-United (JD-U), and CPM are included in the delegation.

The delegation will make recommendations to the government and Parliament for a solution to Manipur’s problems , based on their observations, according to PTI.

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The agenda

Before leaving Delhi for Manipur, Congress leader Chowdhury told reporters that their objective is to visit as many relief camps as they can and speak with those who have been impacted.

The MPs from the opposition boarded a commercial airplane towards Manipur. Two groups of MPs, who would independently visit locations to assess the situation, have been formed. According to NDTV sources, after arriving in Imphal around noon, the opposition leaders would board a helicopter and fly directly to Churachandpur, where they will meet with Kuki tribe chiefs, members of the civil society, and women’s organisations.

The MPs will also write a report about the visit and then ask for a debate about it in Parliament.

Congress MP Chowdhury said, “We are going there not to raise political issues but to understand the pain of the people of Manipur. We have been appealing to the government to find a solution to the sensitive situation which has emerged in Manipur. It is not a law and order situation but there is communal violence there. We are going to assess the real situation on the ground in Manipur."

“Our endeavour is to make an assessment of the situation prevailing in the state. We hope that the state government will not create any hindrance during our visit,” Chowdhury said, adding that the government should make efforts to restore normalcy in Manipur, bring peace and resolve the pain and suffering of the people of the state.

He added that they will also meet Governor Uikey and apprise her of their experience during their visit.

According to PTI, the grand-old party leader said, “The government wants to pass of the Manipur violence as a law-and-order situation, but it is not just that as ethnic clashes have taken place there. The government should not try and evade the issue as it is being discussed all over the world.”

Gaurav Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, demanded an investigation into the violence in the northeastern state before the visit under the direction of a former Supreme Court judge.

According to sources who spoke with the news agency, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was written to by the Opposition bloc INDIA, who then authorised the delegation’s visit.

PTI reported, “The MPs have sought to use helicopters in Manipur and if allowed, they will visit the far-flung areas of Churachandpur, where fresh violence has taken place.”

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The visiting MPs

There are 21 MPs from opposition parties currently in Manipur.

Besides Chowdhury and Gogoi, the delegation includes Sushmita Dev from TMC, Mahua Maji from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, DMK’s Kanimozhi and D Ravikumar, Mohammad Faizal from Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary, RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha, Revolutionary Socialist Party’s NK Premachandran, VCK’s T Thirumavalavan, JD-U’s chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh and Aneel Prasad Hedge, Javed Ali Khan from Samajwadi Party, IUML’s ET Mohammed Basheer, AAP’s Sushil Gupta, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s Arvind Sawant, Phulo Devi Netam and K Suresh from Congress.

Also read: ‘Don’t interfere’: Why Manipur CM Biren Singh has hit out at Mizoram’s Zoramthanga

Criticism

The opposition delegation’s trip to Manipur comes precisely one month after Congress leader  Rahul Gandhi’s 29 and 30 June trip there. His convoy was blocked on the first day of his visit, so he took a helicopter from the state capital Imphal to the violent Churachandpur area.

The opposition MPs’ visit comes at a time when the BJP, which is in power, has urged them to skip visiting the state. The Opposition, according to the BJP, is attempting to incite unrest in the state.

Union minister Anurag Thakur described the visit as “an act.”

He told the media, “It is just a showoff by the INDIA alliance MPs who have gone to Manipur. The opposition and its allies never spoke when Manipur used to burn during their rule in the state. When they come back from Manipur, I would request Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to bring them to West Bengal. I want to ask him does he agree with the atrocities against women in the state… In Rajasthan where there are killings and crimes against women, the opposition did not go there. Will the INDIA alliance also go to Rajasthan?”

During the current Monsoon Session, there has been a standoff in Parliament over the Manipur issue as the opposition MPs have demanded both a lengthy discussion on the subject and a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The government has insisted, nevertheless, that Amit Shah, the home minister, will reply to the opposition. Weeks ago, the PM was criticised by the opposition for remaining silent on the subject.

The situation in the northeastern state has caused heated exchanges in the Parliament, and the session has been mostly abandoned due to adjournments and the lack of progress.

A no-confidence motion against the government in the parliament has also been proposed by Congress. The motion has been approved by the Lok Sabha Speaker, but no date has been set for the no-trust vote.

In response to calls for resignation, the government of Chief Minister N Biren Singh has decided to call an assembly meeting at the end of this month or the beginning of August.

Also read: Gang-raped, assaulted, killed: How women have become easy targets in Manipur

Manipur violence

After a “Tribal Solidarity March” was arranged in the hill districts on May 3 in opposition to the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, violence broke out in Manipur. Thousands of people have been displaced and more than 150 people have already died as a result of the violence. Attacks have been made on homes, houses of worship, and places of government.

Tension over the displacement of Kuki people from the reserve forest area sparked a string of minor protests before the violence.

The majority of Manipur’s Meiteis live in the Imphal valley and make up roughly 53 per cent of the state’s total population. Another 40 per cent of the population are tribal people who live in the hill districts, including the Nagas and Kukis.

With inputs from agencies