Sources on Friday (July 21) revealed that leaders of various opposition parties are contemplating a visit to Manipur towards the end of next week. The visit date is expected to be finalised during an opposition party meeting in Parliament on Monday morning. The move is in response to violence in the state of Manipur, which has lasted nearly two and a half months. According to sources, the leader of the I.N.D.I.A. coalition is eager to visit the region as soon as possible.
"Leaders of opposition parties may visit Manipur by the end of next week. The final decision on the date will be made at the opposition parties' meeting in Parliament on Monday morning," sources told ABP News.
Notably, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already contacted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, urging all I.N.D.I.A. Chief Ministers to visit Manipur in solidarity, ABP News reported.
The video of two women being paraded naked by a mob in a village in the violence-torn state of Manipur stunned the country.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier in the day continued her tirade against the Centre over the Manipur crisis, saying the BJP's 'Beti Bachao' scheme has now turned into 'Beti Jalao' (Burn our daughters). The TMC leader questioned why the Centre had never sent central teams to Manipur, where ethnic strife has claimed over 160 lives.
"We want to express our support for Manipur. After the BJP sent so many central teams to Bengal (following the panchayat elections), why was no central team sent to the northeastern state?" According to PTI, she said.
Banerjee spoke at the party's annual Martyrs' Day rally in Kolkata, expressing her support for the newly formed opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A. and asserting that their mission is to depose the saffron camp from power.
She warned that the BJP's return to power would spell the end of democracy.
The TMC supremo issued a clarion call to oust the BJP and refuted claims of personal ambitions, saying, "We have no other demand, neither do we want any chair except ousting the BJP from the Centre in 2024. I am pleased that these 26 opposition parties have united. Protests against the Centre will be organised under the banner of the opposition alliance - I.N.D.I.A. The alliance will fight, and TMC will support it as a soldier," she said.
Banerjee stated that if the BJP returns to power at the Centre for the third time in a row, "democracy will cease to exist in the country."