TMC To Send 4-Member Fact-Finding Team To Manipur On July 14, BJP Calls It Diversion Tactic

The delegation will include Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien, Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, and Lok Sabha MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Kalyan Banerjee.

The Trinamool Congress appointed a four-member team to visit Manipur on July 14.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Amid ethnic violence in Manipur, the Trinamool Congress on Monday appointed a four-member team to visit the strife-torn northeastern state on July 14 to reach out to the affected people.

The delegation will include Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien, Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, and Lok Sabha MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Kalyan Banerjee.

"A four-member fact-finding delegation of MPs from @AITCofficial will visit Manipur on July 14... (It) will reach out to those affected and provide some healing comfort for a 'DOUBLE ENGINE' state that the @BJP4India government has ignored over the last 3 months," the TMC tweeted.

A four member fact-finding delegation of MPs from @AITCofficial will visit Manipur on July 14. Members of Parliament @derekobrienmp @KBanerjee_aitc @kakoligdastidar @Dolasen7 will reach out to those affected and provide some healing comfort for a ‘DOUBLE ENGINE’ State that the…

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 10, 2023

Notably, more than 120 people have lost their lives and several have been injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Recently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had accused the BJP of using "divisive" politics in Manipur and blamed it for a "failure" on the part of the central government to restore peace in the northeastern state.

Banerjee had also claimed that she wrote to the Centre to allow her to visit Manipur but didn't receive a reply.

Reacting to the Trinamool Congress' decision to send a delegation to Manipur, the Bengal BJP unit said the TMC should first send fact-finding teams to districts where violence claimed 15 lives during the panchayat polls on July 8.

"So many people have died in the entire panchayat poll process since June 8, when the elections were announced. They should first send fact-finding teams to such areas and speak to the family of victims. This is an attempt to divert attention from the violence in Bengal," BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

Violence had rocked West Bengal's rural polls, leaving at least 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.

The total death toll in the state since the poll process began on June 8, when the dates were announced, has crossed 30.