PM Modi’s Manipur visit ‘too little, too late’, says Jairam Ramesh

Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reported plan to visit Manipur on September 13, alleging that such a move comes “too little too late” after months of silence on the state’s crisis.

In a sharp statement on X, Ramesh said the Prime Minister had failed to show either courage or empathy during the past 29 months of unrest in Manipur, which first erupted on May 3, 2023. Despite BJP and its allies securing a strong mandate just over a year earlier, hundreds of people had been killed, thousands displaced, and tens of thousands forced into relief camps. Social harmony had collapsed, leaving an atmosphere of fear and suspicion.

Ramesh pointed out that the Prime Minister remained silent even after the Supreme Court declared on August 1, 2023, that there had been an absolute breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state. He also criticised the handling of governance in Manipur, noting that President’s Rule, imposed in February this year and extended last month, had made no substantive difference to people’s lives.

The Congress leader further said the Prime Minister had not met any political leaders, MLAs, MPs, or civil society groups from the state, nor had he even offered condolences after the death of renowned cultural figure Ratan Thiyam in July. “Over two and a half years, the PM has travelled extensively across the world and visited Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, but ignored Manipur,” Ramesh said, blaming both Modi’s neglect and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s “loud-mouthed incompetence” for deepening the state’s distress.