PM Modi should sack Manipur CM: Kharge

Union Home Minister Amit Shah meets Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh over the situation in the state, on Sunday in New Delhi. Pic/PTI

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the Manipur violence and said the first thing he should do is sack Chief Minister N Biren Singh if he is really concerned about the state. No amount of propaganda by the BJP government can cover up its abject failure in handling the Manipur situation, Kharge said. He said reports indicated Union Home Minister Amit Shah had finally spoken to Modi on the Manipur situation, and added, "For the last 55 days, Modi ji did not say a word on Manipur. Every Indian is waiting for him to speak."

"If Modi ji is really concerned about Manipur, then the first thing he should do is to sack his chief minister," he said on Twitter. More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between the Meitei and the Kuki communities in Manipur so far. Kharge added, "No amount of propaganda by the BJP and Modi government can cover up their abject failures in dealing with (the) Manipur violence." The Congress chief also demanded that the government confiscate weapons "stolen from extremist organisations and anti-social elements". Manipur CM Singh said Union Home Minister Shah has expressed concern over the shifting of violence and civil unrest from peripheral areas to districts in the Imphal valley.

"The changing nature of violence from the exchange of fire in the peripheral areas to the civil unrest in the valley districts has become a matter of concern for Amit Shah ji," the CM told reporters in Imphal after his return from New Delhi late on Sunday night. Singh briefed Shah about the "evolving situation" in Manipur and said the state and central governments have been able to control the violence to a "great extent".

"Shah raised issues such as the attacks on the house of Union Minister of State for External Affairs RK Ranjan Singh and the residence of state minister Sushindro Meitei, the ongoing arson and destruction of government properties and hampering the movement of security forces," the chief minister said. Singh said that he has submitted a report of the measures taken up by the state government to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur.

100
No of approximate people who died in the violence

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