A day after Amit Shah held all-party meet, 10 Opposition parties of Manipur hold a convention in Delhi, where Congress again demands sacking of ‘non-functional’ CM Biren Singh
On a day Chief Minister N Biren Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to discuss the evolving situation in strife-torn Manipur, the Opposition Congress stepped up its attack on the BJP dispensation’s handling of the crisis, questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s continued silence on the ethnic violence that has convulsed the state.
A day after Shah held an all-party meeting to discuss the Manipur crisis and assured the political parties that the situation in the state was slowly returning to normal, as many as 10 Opposition parties of Manipur held a convention in the national capital, where the Congress once again demanded Biren Singh’s removal as the CM.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Biren Singh has proved to be “ineffective” and peace cannot be restored in Manipur with him at its helm. Former Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh alleged that the all-party meeting held by Shah was an “eyewash” and reiterated his charge that he was not given adequate time to make his points at the meeting.
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Besides the Congress leaders, the National Convention on Peace in Manipur was attended by CPI general secretary D Raja, CPI(M) leaders Hannan Mollah and Nilotpal Basu, Forward Bloc general secretary G Devarajan, and several Opposition leaders from Manipur.
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Attacking the central government, Ramesh said PM Modi was “silent” while Manipur has continued to burn. He called Home Minister Shah “ineffective” and CM Biren Singh “non-functional”.
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“Every single minute Biren Singh continues as CM is a minute wasted towards efforts to bring peace and begin the reconciliation process in Manipur. His continuation as CM is untenable beyond doubt,” Ramesh said. “To move ahead, the CM should be replaced immediately and two fundamental steps need to be taken — disarm all armed groups ruthlessly without any discrimination and begin the process of creating an atmosphere of trust, harmony and reconciliation,” he said.
Ramesh also said, “You cannot have unanimity but you can have consensus. That is how the Constitution of India was made… So it is through consensus, only through listening to everybody, being sensitive that you can really restore trust (in Manipur). It is going to be a long process. It is not going to happen in weeks, it is going to take months, it may take years but we have to start the process,” he said.
Ramesh said Ibobi Singh took 10 years to restore some semblance of order and then the process of development was started in Manipur. “We live in hope that Manipur which was an example of unity through diversity in India is brought back to the path of normalcy at the earliest,” he added.
