Indian prime minister Narendra Modi called for the people of Manipur to maintain peace during his first visit to the northeastern state in two years since ethnic violence plunged it into crisis.
The state has been strife-torn since May 2023 when ethnic violence broke out between the majority Meitei community and the mostly Christian Kuki people.
Violent clashes sparked from controversy over a Manipur court order that seemed to recommend a special status for the Hindu-Meitei, which seemingly let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs.
The clashes persisted despite the presence of the army in the state of 3.7 million ruled by Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
More than 250 people have been killed, and over 60,000 displaced since the ethnic violence began, with nearly 200 cases of heinous crimes, including rape, arson, loot, and murder filed with special investigation teams constituted by India’s apex court.
Amid the violence last year, N Biren Singh, chief minister of the northeastern state and a member of BJP, resigned. Mr Singh, a Meitei leader, had been under increasing pressure from his own allies to step down. BJP lawmakers have periodically sought his resignation over his handling of the crisis.
An investigation found the state’s own police led two tribal women to a violent mob of 1,000 people that molested them.
Over the last two years, opposition parties, including the Congress, have repeatedly demanded that the Indian prime minister visit the state, even raising the issue of Mr Modi’s silence on the issue during parliamentary sessions.
The first time the prime minister spoke publicly on the issue was only two months after the deadly ethnic clashes escalated.
This was after a video showing a mob molesting women in the state became viral and triggered massive outrage.
“The guilty will not be spared. What has happened to the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven,” Mr Modi told reporters in July 2023.
After months of criticism, the Indian prime minister visited Manipur on Saturday, where he appealed for peace and unveiled a host of development projects in the strife-torn state.
The projects unveiled included plans to build women’s hostels, indoor stadiums, and road infrastructure, with a total worth of about $1bn.
He also met some displaced members of both communities during his nearly three-hour-long visit to the state capital of Imphal and the town of Churachandpur, according to the New Indian Express.
“The land of Manipur is a land of hope and aspiration. Unfortunately, violence has cast its shadow on this beautiful region,” he said in a speech, addressing residents of the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur hills.
“I appeal to all organisations to take the path of peace to fulfil their dreams and secure the future of their children,” the Indian prime minister said.
Speaking at the Meitei-dominated state capital of Imphal, Mr Modi said the government has approved the construction of 7,000 new homes for those displaced by the conflict, and urged both communities to engage in dialogue.
“Our government is continuously working to ensure peace and stability in Manipur,” the PM exclaimed.
Critiques and members of opposition parties to Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party were quick to call out the prime minister over his short trip to the state, calling it a “token” visit “two years too late”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Mr Modi’s “three-hour pit stop in Manipur is not compassion”, but “farce, tokenism, and a grave insult to a wounded people”.
“Your so-called roadshow in Imphal and Churachandpur today, is nothing but a cowardly escape from hearing the cries of people in relief camps,” Mr Kharge said.
Gaurav Gogoi, a parliament leader of Congress, said the “first step on the journey to peace and healing in Manipur should have been Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the state two years ago”.
“Now two years late his visit should primarily be about respecting the sentiments of the Northeast. Instead the optics are tone-deaf and concentrated on the image of the Prime Minister rather than the ground reality,” Mr Gogoi said.
“It is the most embarrassing politics of photo ops. For more than two years, Manipur has been in crisis. Now, the PM has gone there for three hours. It is just for tokenism. It is way too little and too late,” Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sagarika Ghose said.
