‘Alarming’: Himanta Biswa’s rewind of Manmohan Singh’s response to Manipur

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the duplicity of the Congress over Manipur is alarming given former PM Manmohan Singh’s response to ‘similar crises’ in the state.

Citing five points, Himanta said during the UPA rule, Manipur saw frequent blockades, massive fuel price hike, Centre’s apathy and death of civilians and security personnel which only ended in 2014. “The pain arising from multi-ethnic conflicts in Manipur has its genesis in faulty policies of Congress governments during formative years of the state. Repairing the fault lines created by 7 decades of misgovernance will take time,” the Assam chief minister said.

The Assam chief minister who is also the convener of the North-East Democratic Alliance visited Manipur after ethnic clash erupted in the state on May 3 over the demand of scheduled tribe status by the Meitei community of the state.

While the unrest has been going on for the past two months, the video of two Kuki women paraded naked has sparked national outrage triggering a BJP vs opposition political slugfest. PM Modi has spoken on the issue and expressed his anger and pain. Six culprits have been arrested in the last two days only after the video went viral.

Condemning the Manipur incident, Himanta on Friday questioned the northeast-specific outrage of the ‘so-called liberals’ who are silent on incidents in Rajasthan. “Even in my state there have been similar incidents. Crimes, occurring anywhere, need to be condemned. But why only target Manipur & North East?” Himanta said.

Manipur became blockade capital: Himanta

“Between 2010-2017, when Cong ruled the State, every year there were blockades ranging from 30 days a year to upto 139 days a year. Petrol and LPG prices went upto ₹240 and ₹1,900 a litre during each of these blockades, translating into a complete humanitarian crisis. 2011 was one of the worst blockades in Manipur lasting more than 120 days,” the Assam CM wrote.

In 2011, the then Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson ‘didn’t even utter a word for those 123 days when Manipur was burning. He was busy bailing out private companies,” Himanta Biswa wrote. At that time, Himanta was with the Congress.

“Since 2014, there has been tremendous healing of Manipur’s social fabric. This process of resolving decades old ethnic conflicts will be completed in totality under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minster Shri @narendramodi ji,” the Assam CM wrote.