Imphal/Guwahati
Nearly five months into the State in turmoil and a fresh bout of students-led violence engulfing Imphal following the abduction and killing of two youths, the BJP’s Manipur unit has told its national president JP Nadda that people are angry as the State government has so far failed to contain the ethnic strife.
“Public anger and protest is now slowly turning the tide, putting the sole onus of this prolonged disturbance into the failure of the government in dealing with the situation,” Manipur BJP president Sharda Devi, vice-president Ch Chidananda Singh and six others stated in their letter to Nadda.
Angry mobs have in the last few days tried storming Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s ancestral residence and yet again attacked the State BJP chief’s residence (an attack had happened in June too) and torched a couple of BJP offices.
The State BJP leaders demanded immediate re-settlement of the displaced people in their original places of residence by shifting them from the relief camps; immediate restoration of “free flow of traffic along the national highways” as being demanded by people; grant of promised compensation to people whose houses were destroyed and ex gratia to families of those killed in the ethnic strife; effective implementation of ground rules of Suspension of Operations and to treat any violation as an “act of terrorism”.
The State BJP urged Nadda to apprise the Union Home Ministry of early completion of the drive to record the biometric data of illegal immigrants to facilitate the early implementation of the NRC; to completely destroy all poppy cultivation; and establish a joint monitoring committee for constant vigilance.
The fresh bout of violence by students comes even as the security forces have been facing the problem of women-led mobs attacking them and militants mingling with locals and instigating them. Students have torched vehicles and deputy commissioner’s office forcing security forces to fire tear gas shells which led to demands for action against them and a warning from the CM himself.
The CM on Saturday said security personnel involved in the excessive use of force against students during a crackdown on a protest rally against the killing of two students will be punished. The State government has handed over the case of abduction and killing of the two students to the CBI, which is already on the job.
Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey visited the family members of two youths at their respective residences in Imphal West district on Friday, a statement issued by the Raj Bhavan said.
