Congress Blames Centre For Manipur Violence

The Congress party has accused the BJP-led central and state governments of failing to prevent the ethnic violence in Manipur, which has led to the loss of many lives. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said at a press conference that the situation reflects the “callousness, negligence, and casualness” of the state government and the “inactivity” of the central government.

The violence broke out in the state after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organized on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, resulting in the deaths of at least 54 people. Singhvi accused the Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government of being devoid of qualities of statecraft, stateliness, and statesmanship, and contributing to the “sad, sordid saga of provoked communities and castes against each other”.

He said that the state government did not tell the High Court of a 23-year-old judgment of the constitution bench of the Supreme Court that such notifications and approvals, such as inclusions of STs, cannot be done by state governments or state high courts and can only be done by a presidential notification.

He questioned why this was not the preliminary objection of the state government during the hearing in the Manipur High Court and why attention was not paid to the Manipur ST issue during the winter and budget sessions of Parliament.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also held the BJP responsible for the tragedy, citing a report quoting the Chief Justice of India that asked why a constitution bench verdict of 2000, which noted that courts do not have power to “add or subtract” the ST list, was not “shown” to the Manipur High Court.

Concerned over the huge loss of life and property, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Manipur government to step up relief and rehabilitation efforts for those hit by the violence, besides protecting places of worship, many of which were targeted during the mayhem.

Manipur Chief Minister Singh said 60 people have been killed, 231 injured, and 1,700 houses, including religious places, burnt in the violence. The Congress party's accusations highlight the need for the BJP-led governments to take accountability and take steps to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

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