'Congress Is Crying About Manipur When...': Assam CM Himanta Sarma's Swipe Day After Rahul Gandhi's Visit

Assam CM Himanta Sarma further said the situation in Manipur is “fast-improving” and by the next 10 days, it will be in a better state.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

New Delhi: Launching an attack on the Congress, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the grand old party is “crying” when the situation in violence-hit Manipur is relatively better while they could have showed this concern when the northeastern state was going through a volatile phase. He further said the situation is “fast-improving” and by the next 10 days, it will be in a better state.

“I think the situation in Manipur is improving day by day and I am of the view that in the next one week or 10 days, more improvement will take place. The Congress is crying about Manipur when relative peace has been restored. They should have cried when there was a volatile situation. At that time, they neither went to Manipur nor commented on it. Now, Manipur is almost limping back to normalcy and now they are talking about it,” news agency ANI quoted CM Sarma as saying.

#WATCH | Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma says, "I think the situation in Manipur is improving day by day and I am of the view that in the next one week or 10 days, more improvement will take place. The Congress is crying about Manipur when relative peace has come. They should have… pic.twitter.com/3qXFvDQaoL

— ANI (@ANI) July 1, 2023

“I can tell you with guarantee that there is improvement in Manipur situation compared to what was there one month back...The situation is fast becoming normal,” he added.

Himanta Sarma’s remarks come just a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi returned from his two-day visit to the conflict-torn state.

Earlier, he had termed Gandhi’s visit as Congress’s media hype and said at this point in time, no one should try to take political mileage from the state's "tragic" situation.

“He (Gandhi) is visiting Manipur just for a day. It is nothing but media hype. Had there been positive results from the visit, it would have been a different matter, but there will be no outcome from such a visit,” news agency PTI quoted Sarma as saying.

Notably, around 100 people have been killed and more than 40,000 have fled their homes since ethnic clashes broke out in early May between Kukis, who mostly live in the hills, and Meiteis, the dominant community, over the latter's demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe list.