Locals clash with police amid preparations for PM Modi’s visit to Manipur’s Churachandpur town

As per the programme planned for the Prime Minister’s proposed visit, he is expected to travel around 5 km by road from the BSF facility to Peace Ground — the venue for his event.

The whole stretch of road on which he is scheduled to travel is being lined with flags of different colours, and several stretches of the road are being flanked by fabric mounted on bamboo frames. However, visuals from Churachandpur on Thursday night showed a group of men tearing down these frames, engaging in arson, and then clashing with the police personnel who resorted to lathi charge to disperse them.

A security official said that the incident was brought under control later at night and that the damage caused was “minor”.

The incident took place amid large-scale deployment of security forces, including police, CRPF, BSF and Assam Rifles, in the town. Manipur’s police chief had been in town earlier in the day to take stock of the security situation.

The proposed September 13 visit will be the Prime Minister’s first to Manipur since the state’s ongoing conflict started in May 2023.

On the day of the visit, the total number of personnel deployed in the town will be around 10,000, said a security official.

The run-up to the visit has seen some tensions in Churachandpur town, with groups differing in their opinion of how the Prime Minister should be received. Some organisations had proposed that their members should dress in black on the day as a sign of mourning, while student groups had even placed empty coffins outside the venue. Amid this, security officials, including CRPF IG Kabib K, met with Churachandpur-based civil society groups on Tuesday to engage with them on the visit and to persuade student organisations to remove the coffins and call off plans to dress for mourning.