Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot strongly hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) Centre over its handling of violence-hit Manipur. He said that the government allowed such a situation to fester in the state and also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not holding a "genuine" all-party meeting on the matter, reported news agency PTI. Pilot also slammed Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, stating that he had lost the moral and political right to govern the state.
The Congres leader was quoted as saying by PTI: "A small state like Manipur which deserved to be handled with care, with empathy and compassion, there is no accountability, and so many people have lost their lives.”
“The government has lost the moral authority to govern, and no one is responsible, nobody in the state, nobody in the ruling party, nobody in Delhi is answering questions," added Pilot.
He also commented on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to the state. In an interview with PTI, he said, “Rahul Gandhi went to Manipur to meet people. It was an effort, not a political effort to get brownie points for anything, but to make sure people feel that despite religious divisions and societal divisions, there are people who want to go and heal the wounds, reduce the pain and share the concern."
More than 100 people have died and many hundreds have been injured in the ethnic violence in Manipur since May 3. Commenting further on it, Pilot said many people lost their lives in over two months as there was no accountability over the Manipur matter, reported PTI.
While further slamming the central government, he said this has never happened before and here is a government that talks about 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas'.
Pilot was quoted as saying by PTI: "Is Manipur not part of our country? Those citizens that are suffering what is their fault. My worry is that it (the situation) has been allowed to fester. The Chief Minister (N Biren Singh), I think, has lost the moral and political right to govern the state.”
He said people in Manipur are in pain due to internal migrations, killings and brutality everywhere in the state.
Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "Unfortunately, honourable PM, not a word (from him). You can tweet about birthdays and festivals all day long but why are you not having a genuine all-party meeting, why is the government not being taken to task, why is no one answering for the atrocities that are happening on a daily basis?”
He described Modi’s silence over the matter as very unfortunate and he said that hopes this will end sooner rather than later.