New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said Thursday that Manipur is in the grip of a “civil war and ethnic violence” that has no parallel, accusing the Centre of drawing “false equivalences” by raking up instances of rapes and murders in Opposition-ruled states such as West Bengal, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Moitra said the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition was aimed at breaking the “code of silence” on Manipur, which continues to be restive owing to clashes between the majority Meiteis, who largely inhabit the Imphal valley, and the Kuki tribes who are mostly concentrated in the hill areas of the state.
“Manipur is different. The issue in Manipur is about a hate crime against a particular community where it is understood that police personnnel of one community, possibly the same community as the chief minister [Manipur CM N. Biren Singh is a Meitei], handed over women of another community to be raped and pillaged by a mob and make every attempt to prevent those women from seeking justice,” said Moitra.
The CBI is currently investigating the case where three Kuki women were allegedly sexually assaulted on 4 May by a mob in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district. A purported video clip, which appears to show two of three women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted, had gone viral on social media last month. It has been reported that according to a police complaint, one of the women was “brutally gang-raped”.
On Wednesday, speaking during the debate on the no-confidence motion, Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticised the opposition, asserting that the people of India had full confidence in PM Modi.
Shah said the violence in Manipur happened in the backdrop of the state of political instability in Myanmar, which shares a boundary with the state. That, he said, led to an influx of Kukis from Myanmar, triggering a sense of insecurity among the Meteis. Importantly, he also rejected the demand made by the opposition to sack Manipur CM N. Biren Singh.
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‘Atmosphere of civil war’
Moitra, who represents West Bengal’s Krishnanagar constituency, said the Opposition bloc brought the motion despite being well-aware that it did not even have the moderate probability of bringing down the government. Instead, the motion aims to “resurrect India’s founding principles of equality and secularism”, she said.
The Trinamool Congress MP added that instead of flagging instances of violation of law and order in opposition-governed states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should address the crisis in Manipur, where the “double-engine” government (at the Centre and the state) of the BJP is witnessing its “biggest failure”. The “BJP’s majoritarian bravado is destroying a state and tearing apart its people,” she added.
“The issue is that two communities in Manipur today have been pitted against each other. It is an atmosphere of civil war, ethnic violence that was rarely seen in India in the past few decades. As many as 6,500 FIRs in three months, which state has seen this? 4,000 houses destroyed in three months, 60,000 people displaced, 150 people dead in three months, 300 places of worship destroyed, an armed standoff between the Manipur police and Assam Rifles, 5000 firearms and 6 lakh bullets looted from police stations by mobs — which state has seen this?” Moitra asked.
Ethnic clashes between the tribal Kuki and non-tribal Meitei communities erupted on 3 May, following a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ taken out to oppose the demand for inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category and for what was described as an effort to secure the rights and constitutional safeguards of the ethnic Kuki and their sub-tribes.
The BJP government of CM Biren Singh has been under fire over its handling of violence.
According to police data, the violence has so far claimed over 157 lives and displaced more than 50,000.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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