Mallikarjun Kharge urges President Murmu’s intervention in Manipur, says people have lost faith in PM and CM

“The people of the state have apparently lost confidence in both the governments and reasonably so. With every passing day, the people of Manipur are becoming insecure on their own soil, their home turf having witnessed their infants, babies, children and women getting mercilessly killed,” he wrote.

The letter added, “With no succor coming from the governments involved, they are finding themselves completely isolated and helpless for more than 540 days now. Indeed, they have lost their faith in the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of the State to protect their lives and properties.”

Kharge said the “country has been inflicted with a grave tragedy of extraordinary proportions due to the unprecedented turmoil in Manipur for the last 18 months”. “The ongoing turmoil has taken more than 300 human lives, including women, children and even small babies. It has internally displaced nearly a lakh of human population, rendering them homeless and forcing them to live in different relief camps. The agony of the people continues unabated,” he wrote.

Kharge said the situation has affected the state’s economy “and the living conditions of its people with retail inflation going up to 10 per cent”. “This has made the lives of the people of Manipur extremely difficult. Businesses are closed down, jobs are getting lost, professionals have left their own homes, essential food items, medicines, essential commodities are in scarcity, national highways are blocked since May of 2023, schools and educational institutions are shut down, internally displaced persons are dying of suicide in relief camps. Manipur and its people are suffering silently,” the Congress leader wrote, adding that the conflict had taken a huge toll on the mental health of the state’s population.

Kharge also said the President “may be aware that since May 2023, despite the demand of the people of Manipur, the Prime Minister has not visited the state”. “On the other hand, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha has been in Manipur thrice in the last 18 months and I, myself, have visited the state in this period. The refusal of the Prime Minister to visit Manipur is beyond anybody’s understanding,” he wrote to Murmu.