As the sitaution in Manipur remains volatile following a fresh round of protests over killing of women and children, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu over the deteriorating situation in the northeastern state, urging her immediate intervention to ensure law and order and safety of the people there. Kharge said that the people of Manipur have lost their faith that the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of the state would protect their lives and properties.
Kharge, in the two-page letter, highlighted the "failure" of the Manipur government and the central government in ensuring law and order in the state for the last 18 months. He emphasised the dire need for her intervention, citing violence, displacement, breakdown of law and order, and violation of human rights. He also stated that the Manipur violence has claimed over 300 human lives, including women, children, and even small babies.
"The deteriorating law and order in Manipur has internally displaced nearly a lakh of human population rendering them homeless and forcing them to live in different relief camps," the Congress President wrote, adding "the agony of the people continues unabated."
The senior Congress leader also hit out at PM Modi for not visiting Manipur since May 2023 despite repeatd demands of the people. "The refusal of the Prime Minister to visit Manipur is beyond anybody's understanding".
He further mentioned how the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha visited Manipur thrice in the last 18 months, adding he himself visited the state during this time.
"I consider that it has become constitutionally imperative on the part of yourself, Hon'ble Madam, as the President of the Republic of India and the custodian of our Constitution to uphold the constitutional propriety and immediately intervene to ensure the protection of lives and properties of our own citizens in Manipur, as enshrined in the Constitution.
"I am confident that, through your intervention of your esteemed Office, the people of Manipur will again live peacefully in their homes in security with dignity," Kharge wrote to the President.
Targeting the Centre and State over "inaction" in the matter, he stated that the "deliberate acts of omission and commission caused lawlessness, absence of rule of law, violations of human rights, compromise of national security, and suppression of fundamental rights of citizens of our country".
Earlier today, a meeting of the BJP-led NDA in Manipur was held wherein MLAs adopted a resolution calling for a "mass operation" against Kuki militants who were involved in the killing of three women and three children in the Jiribam district in seven days.
It was also resolved that the case be handed over to the NIA immediately.