NEW DELHI: AAP leader Atishi on Thursday termed “horrific” a May 4 video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur and hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying though he had time to visit foreign countries, he hasn’t yet gone to the strife-hit northeastern state.
Tension mounted in the hills of Manipur after the video surfaced on Wednesday. The state has been witnessing ethnic clashes since May 3 between the majority Meitei community, concentrated in the Imphal Valley, and the tribal Kukis, occupying the hills. Scores of people have been killed in the violence so far.
Prime Minister Modi on Thursday said the incident of women being paraded naked in Manipur has shamed 140 crore Indians, asserting that the law will act with its full might and no guilty will be spared. “My heart is full of pain and anger,” he told reporters in his remarks ahead of Parliament’s Monsoon session, amid his criticism by opposition parties for not speaking on the ethnic violence in Manipur.
Delhi Women and child development minister Atishi said, “Prime Minister Modi did not have the time to visit Manipur. He visited Japan on May 19, Papua Guinea on May 21, Australia on May 22, the US on June 20 and then France and the UAE. But he didn’t go to Manipur. Even a delegation from Manipur kept waiting for him but he did not meet them.”
“Not only is this video horrific, but it is heart-rending. The whole country watched the kind of behaviour that the women were meted out. But the BJP is not taking action against the violence,” she claimed.
DCW chief demands action
DCW chief Swati Maliwal wrote to PM Narendra Modi demanding immediate steps to curb the violence in Manipur and arrest those behind parading two women naked and allegedly sexually assaulting them.