Imphal, Dec 18: A 15-member Congress delegation on Wednesday called on Manipur Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya at Raj Bhavan here and sought his intervention to restore peace in the ethnic violence-hit state, a party leader said.
The state Congress also conducted a “Raj Bhavan march” as part of the party’s nationwide programme against alleged “misrule” of the BJP-led Centre.
Congress workers were stopped by security forces from marching towards the Raj Bhavan and engaged in a scuffle.
Several Congress activists were injured after Rapid Action Force personnel baton-charged them.
During the meeting with the governor, the party delegation conveyed its concern over the law and order situation in Manipur, Congress’ state unit chief Keisham Meghachandra said.
“Fifteen representatives of the Congress called on the governor. We conveyed to the governor that we wanted peace and urged him to do something to restore normalcy. We also informed him that the Constitution is not being safeguarded and everyone is affected,” Meghachandra told reporters after the meeting with Acharya.
During the protest, the Congress leader held a copy of the Constitution and claimed that “Everyone, including MLAs, is affected. We are unable to tolerate the suffering of people”.
“The governor gave us a patient hearing. We had met him earlier in Guwahati but no change was noticed. The government has not initiated anything to bring peace…Whenever a leader or a minister says on a public platform that there will be a firing the next day, it sends a wrong message,” Meghachandra alleged.
The Congress leader said the party delegation demanded immediate resettlement of internally displaced people to their homes and secured movement of citizens across districts.
To media queries on what the governor said, Meghachandra replied, “He assured that peace will be restored. But this is just an assurance and in the last 19 months, we have highlighted the issues multiple times. We also submitted a four-point memorandum seeking immediate restoration of normalcy.”
To another query on Prime Minister Narendra Modi not visiting Manipur, the Congress leader said, “It is a sign of negligence by the Centre.”
More than 250 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups in Manipur since May last year. (PTI)
