In Manipur, Opp asks: Why relief camps if peace here

Expressing concern over the “sharp and stark divisions” in Manipur, the Opposition MPs sought a roadmap from the Centre to resolve the issue, and said they were prepared to give inputs if needed.

Soon after their arrival at Imphal airport from Delhi in the morning, the 21-member Opposition delegation – the largest to visit the state since violence began on May 3 – broke into two groups and took a helicopter ride to the worst-affected area of Churachandpur to meet displaced people from the Kuki-Zomi and Meitei communities living in relief camps.

While one team met displaced people living in a relief camp at the Churachandpur College Boys’ Hostel, another team visited a relief camp in Don Bosco School,  Churachandpur. Later, in the evening, while one team visited a relief camp in Moirang College in Bishnupur district, the other team visited the relief camp in Ideal Girls’ College in Imphal.

Three women MPs also met the two women from Kuki-Zomi community who were paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a mob, days after a video of the May incident led to an uproar across the nation.

“We met the victims of that viral video. One of them told us that if the government is serious… they have ordered a CBI probe and all… but what about the policemen who were watching all that was happening and didn’t do anything. She asked whether the government has taken any action against those policemen,” TMC Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Dev told The Indian Express.

“She told us that the police ran away from the scene. She asked whether those policemen were identified and suspended. Has Chief Minister N Biren Singh bothered to find out who were those officers who left us like that? We did not have any answers,” Dev said. The victims, she said, “told us that they have absolutely no faith in the Chief Minister”.

“Even Meitei people told us that they don’t have faith in the Chief Minister,” said Dev, who along with DMK’s Kanimozhi and Congress’s Phulo Devi Netam, met the victims at a private educational institution in Churachandpur.

Dev claimed that many people told the delegation that the arrest of the person who had made the video was only aimed at scaring them.

“They felt the government was trying to scare them… and sending a message to them that they shouldn’t take videos. If we don’t take videos, how will the world know what is happening… because there is no Internet. They said they will take videos and the day the Internet comes back they will release all the videos,” Dev said.

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “The situation is pathetic… logo main kaafi uncertainty hai. There is a sense of despondency and anger. The people in the Churachandpur camp (a boys hostel in Churachandpur College) told us that the local population and civil society are helping them… and not much assistance is coming from the government.”

He said the “people have told us that more than 100 women were sexually assaulted and raped” over the last two months. “The representatives of the Kuki community told us that medical students from their community are barred from entering Imphal. The situation is such that hill people cannot enter the plains and people from the plains cannot enter the hills. The division is so sharp and stark,”  he said.

“We were told that exchange of fire is still going on in the foothills. We were told that the exchange of population is now complete in the plains and the hills. But in the foothills there are still Kuki and Meitei villages. And both sides are trying to save their villages from attacks… they are all armed,” he said.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said, “We have come and seen that people have not forgotten what happened to them. The way they had to flee their homes at night to save their lives, the way there was violence towards them, the way they were threatened… People are still living in camps.”

“From this, it is clear that they do not have confidence in the government. If what the government says that there is peace [is true], why are there camps? In just this district, we found out that there are around 300 relief camps… we have been told that around 15,000 people in this district are in camps… That is why we believe that there should not be any delay in discussing this in Parliament,” he told reporters in Churachandpur.

Speaking in Imphal later in the day, Gogoi said that the delay in discussion and action on the Manipur issue have led to alienation of the state.

“Whether it is under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha or under the ‘No Confidence Motion’, dialogue has to happen in Parliament; it is time to assure the people of Manipur the rest of the country is concerned about them and that India is here with them,” he said.

He said the delegation’s visit was not driven by political intentions. “Our aim is to listen to grievances of the people… The Union Government has to come up with a roadmap to resolve the Manipur issue and we will give our constructive inputs if needed,” he said.

RSP MP N K Premachandran said both sides complained against the Central and state governments. “There is no mutual trust. They now consider each other as enemies. Women and children are the worst affected,” he said.

Speaking to reporters before their departure from Delhi, DMK MP Kanimozhi said the aim of the visit was to let people affected by the conflict know that the Opposition’s INDIA alliance “stands with them”.

“Over 50,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in order to save themselves and they are in camps. So we will visit these camps and meet these people and tell them that we stand with them… We will meet the Governor and tell her about what we’ve seen and what has to be done. And once we come back, it has to be decided how to take it further,” she said.

Meanwhile, in a memorandum submitted to the delegation, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum – a conglomeration of tribal bodies in Churachandpur – reiterated the demand for political separation from Manipur, and urged the MPs to support this demand and push the Centre to introduce President’s Rule in the state.

The Opposition MPs are now preparing a report, which will be submitted to Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Sunday.

The visit by the MPs comes against the backdrop of a logjam in Parliament over the issue, with Opposition parties demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Manipur situation in the House. The Congress has also moved a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government.

The visiting delegation comprises MPs from 16 parties which are part of the INDIA alliance – Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, CPI, CPI(M), RJD, SP, VCK, JD(U), NCP, IUML, RSP, AAP, Shiv Sena, JMM and RLD.