NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha early Friday adopted a Statutory Resolution confirming the imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur.
While members across party lines supporting the decision, the opposition slammed the Centre for its failure in controlling the violence in strife-torn state.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed the House that two meetings between the Kuki and Meiti communities have already taken place in Manipur. He hoped a third would take place in New Delhi soon.
“It is true that 260 people were killed in Manipur’s violence. But of these 70% were killed in the first 15 days of the outbreak of ethnic clashes,” he said.
Shah said no violence in Manipur was reported since November 2024.
The Union government on February 13 imposed President’s rule in Manipur under the Constitution’s Article 356, four days after chief minister Biren Singh resigned. Under Article 356, both houses of Parliament must approve the proclamation of the President’s Rule within two months.
Shah said that under Congress’s tenure there were 225 blockades, curfew and even then the prime minister didn’t visit the state.
Responding to TMC’s charge that women were assaulted in Manipur’s ethnic clash, Shah said the state government didn’t take action when women were assaulted in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal and even in RG Kar hospital incident where a doctor was raped and killed.
In West Bengal 250 people were killed in political violence, Shah said.
“From 2004-2014 under Congress’s tenure 11,327 cases of violence took place, in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure there is a 70% reduction in violence with only 3,428 such cases,” Shah added.
During a discussion, Opposition parties demanded that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi should visit the state at the earliest.
They also demanded a thorough inquiry into the violence and a white paper be tabled in the Parliament.
Initiating the discussion on a statutory resolution on imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Modi government failed in governing the northeastern state despite having a majority there.
“For nearly two years, Manipur has been burning and the government has totally failed in stopping the violence,” he said.
Kharge said that while the BJP’s “double-engine” government promised stability, it delivered “bloodshed, division, and economic collapse” to the state.
“I would urge the prime minister to visit Manipur, meet the affected people and resolve their issues and set right the law and order situation there,” he said.
Kharge said that more than 260 people have died and many displaced since ethnic violence breakout; yet the BJP government watched in silence.
He said more than 4,700 houses have been burnt, 13,000 structures including schools, hospitals and places of worship have been destroyed in the state since 2023.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh of the prime minister for not visiting the state and asked the Centre to restore the election process in the state soon.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Priyanka Chaturvedi said the prime minister must visit the state and help restore the law and order and electoral process.