New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured the people of ethnic violence-hit Manipur that the entire country is with them and that peace will be restored soon in the northeastern state.
Alleging the opposition for doing politics over the crisis in Manipur, PM Modi said, “What has happened in Manipur is painful, but no one should play politics on it.”
Replying to the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha amid the opposition’s calls for his statement on the violence in Manipur, PM Modi said, “Both the state and central governments are doing everything possible to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment.”
“I want to tell the people of Manipur including women and daughters of Manipur that the country is with you,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi also hit out the Congress for leaving behind an unstable situation in Manipur during their regime.
“Manipur had become the victim of ethnic clashes during the erstwhile Congress regime. There was a time in Manipur when everything used to be run by insurgents. Whose government was it at that time?” PM Modi questioned.
Ethnic violence first broke out in Manipur on May 3 between the Meitei and the tribal Kuki communities in which over 150 people have been killed so far while thousands have been displaced.
The conflict in Manipur erupted after the minority Christian Kukis protested a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs. Armed mobs torched homes and buildings, killed scores of civilians, looted weapons from police armories and drove tens of thousands from their homes.
