Manipur CM Likely to Meet Amit Shah

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh is likely to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday evening and discuss the prevailing situation in the restive state, sources said.

Singh is expected to brief the home minister about the current situation in Manipur and the steps taken to bring back normalcy in the northeastern state.

BJP’s Manipur unit chief A Sharda Devi is likely to accompany the chief minister during the meeting where the political situation in Manipur will also be discussed, the sources said.

The meeting will take place ahead of the one-day Monsoon session of the Manipur assembly on August 29.

The state cabinet had to recommend the date for convening the assembly session for the second time after the House could not meet on August 21 as no notification was issued by the Raj Bhavan despite the cabinet’s earlier recommendation.

Ten Kuki MLAs, including those belonging to the ruling BJP, had expressed their inability to attend the assembly session as the ethnic violence in the state continued.

Naga MLAs had also said they would not be attending the session as they felt Naga peace talks were being hindered by the state government.

Speaking at a programme where temporary shelter homes were handed over to over 300 families in Imphal East district on Wednesday, the chief minister said the situation in Manipur was gradually improving.

“Our first priority is to rehabilitate the affected people in both hills and the valley. Pre-fabricated houses are being built at eight sites,” he said.

Singh said the apprehension that there might be gun attacks has mostly gone now. “We believe normalcy will be restored. This has been possible because of the collective efforts,” the chief minister said.

The violence in the state erupted on May 3 after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Since then, more than 160 people have died and several hundreds were injured in ethnic clashes in Manipur.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts.

Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament were also badly hit due to the continuous protests by opposition parties over the Manipur violence in the nearly month-long Monsoon session which concluded on August 11.

The session started a day after a video of two women being paraded naked by a mob on May 4 in a Manipur village went viral, triggering a nationwide outrage.

The Manipur Police has arrested several accused who were seen in the video.

On July 27, the government decided to hand over the probe into the case of the naked parade of two women to the CBI and filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying the trial of the cases should be conducted outside the state.