Congress slams Modi Government for preventing Rahul Gandhi from visiting relief camps in Manipur’s Churachandpur

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, June 29

The Congress on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of preventing Rahul Gandhi from visiting relief camps outside Manipur capital Imphal.

“Shri @RahulGandhi’s convoy in Manipur has been stopped by the police near Bishnupur. He is going there to meet the people suffering in relief camps and to provide a healing touch in the strife-torn state”, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a tweet.

Kharge said PM Modi has not bothered to break his silence on Manipur and has left the state to fend for itself.

Now, his double engine disastrous governments are using autocratic methods to stall a compassionate outreach by Rahul Gandhi, Kharge said.

“ This is totally unacceptable and shatters all constitutional and democratic norms. Manipur needs peace, NOT confrontation” , Kharge said.

“It is most unfortunate that the Modi Govt is preventing

@RahulGandhi from visiting relief camps and interact with the people outside Imphal”, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.

Ramesh said Gandhi’s two-day visit to Manipur is in the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra”.

“The Prime Minister may choose to remain silent or be inactive but why stop Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to listen to all sections of the Manipuri society and provide a healing touch”, Ramesh said.

According to reports, Gandhi, who flew to Imphal this morning from Delhi, was stopped on the highway when his convoy was heading yoward Churachandpur, one of the districts heavy effected by the recent spate of ethnic violence in the state involving the Meiteis and the Kukis.

Citing safety issues, the state police asked Gandhi to go to Churachandpur by chopper instead of using the road.

“Landed in Manipur today, where I will be visiting relief camps and meeting the families of those affected by violence that has engulfed the State. I will also be meeting with members of the civil society. Restoration of peace is the top priority. Manipur needs healing, and only together we can bring harmony”, Rahul Gandhi posted on the Facebook at 1-05 pm.

Notably, there is no mention in the post of the incident of police preventing him from proceeding to Churanchandpur.

This could be because internet access in Manipur is restricted and the statement purported to have been posted at 1:05 pm may have been actually posted much before the time shown.

Gandhi is slated to return to Delhi tomorrow after visiting various relief camps in Imphal Valley and Churachandpur.

People displaced by the ongoing ethnic violence between the Meiteis and the Kukis have taken shelter in these camps.

Gandhi’s visit marks the first visit to the strife-torn state by a top leader from a mainstream political party.

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