Cong asks PM to visit state; demands Shah's resignation

New Delhi : Amid spike in violence in Manipur, the Congress on Monday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must visit the troubled state before the Parliament session and demanded Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation for the "double engine government's complete failure" there.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the PM must first meet an all-party delegation from Manipur and then also call an all-party meeting at the national level ahead of the Parliament session starting November 25.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here along with Manipur Congress chief K Meghachandra Singh and AICC in-charge of state Girish Chodankar, Ramesh demanded that Shah and Chief Minister N Biren Singh must resign.

"From May 3, 2023, Manipur is burning and Prime Minister Modi visits various countries of the world, gives sermons, but could not find time to visit Manipur. So, our first demand is that PM should take time out before the Parliament session to visit Manipur and meet political parties, politicians, civil society groups, and people in relief camps there. He said the Congress also demands that the PM should meet an all-party delegation from Manipur and then also call an all-party meeting be called at the national level.

The Congress also alleged that the PM has "outsourced" Manipur to the home minister. "There is a strange 'jugalbandi' between the home minister and the failed CM. Why the home minister has not taken cognizance of the CM's failures and why has he been attempting to save him?" the Congress general secretary said. "The pain of Manipur is the pain of the country. More than 300 people died and over 60,000 have been displaced. It is a story of the complete failure of the government," Ramesh said. The BJP got 32 out of 60 seats in 2022 polls, they got a big mandate but within 15 months Manipur began to burn, he said.