IMPHAL: As many as ten leaders from the Manipur Congress has written to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge urging him to take action against senior leader P Chidambaram over his controversial remarks on the ethnic violence in Manipur.
In the now deleted post, Chidambaram had said that Centre's decision to deploy 5000 more CAPF personnel in the face of the escalating violence in the state “is not the answer."
“It is more wisdom: acknowledging that Mr Biren Singh, the chief minister, is the cause of the crisis and removing him immediately. It is more understanding: that the Meitei, the Kuki-Zo and the Naga can live together in one State only if they have genuine regional autonomy. It is more statesmanship: for the Hon’ble PM to give up his obstinacy, visit Manipur, and speak to the people of Manipur with humility and learn first-hand their grievances and aspirations,” Chidambaram wrote.
In the letter to Kharge, state Congress leaders including current MLAs, former ministers, and former Manipur Congress presidents "unanimously condemned" Chidambaram's post.
The state Congress leaders also reiterated the party's commitment to the unity and integrity of Manipur, urging prompt action against the former Union finance minister.
"The language and sentiments expressed were highly inappropriate given the current climate of heightened tensions, public grief, and political sensitivity in the state," the letter said.
"Congress party always stands for the unity and territorial integrity of the state of Manipur. We request AICC for prompt appropriate action against Shri P Chidambaram for his post today and direct him to delete it immediately,” the letter added.
The letter was sent to Kharge after a meeting was convened by the state Congress on Tuesday.
Responding to Chidambaram's remarks, Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who has come under fire for his government's "failure" to deal with the crisis had on Tuesday tried to shift the blame to the former union Minister accusing him of being the "creator" of the problem.
“He (Chidambaram) is the root cause of the Manipur crisis and the Congress is the creator of what we are seeing in the state today. When he was the Union home minister during the then Congress government and O Ibobi was the chief minister here, they brought a Myanmarese foreigner Thanglianpau Guite, who himself admitted in one of the interviews that he contested an MP election in Myanmar. That person is the chairman of Zomi Revolutionary Army which is banned in Myanmar,” Singh had said.
A fresh series of violent incidents triggered by the murder of a Kuki tribal woman allegedly by members of a Meitei militant group earlier this month has pushed the ethnic-violence hit state into turmoil.
According to an FIR filed by the woman's husband, she was brutally raped and burnt alive by Meiti militants along with the houses of other tribals in a village in the Jiribam district of Manipur.
This was followed by CRPF and police personnel shooting dead 10 people belonging to the same tribe as the woman, claiming them to be "militants." Kuki-Zo organisations claimed they were "village volunteers" and demanded a thorough investigation into the killings.
A day after, six members of a Meitei family from the same village—three women and three children—were reported missing, with officials saying that they were likely abducted by Kuki militants.
Violent protests led by Meitei groups broke out after the reported recovery of six bodies, believed to be of those reported missing.
Protesting mobs attacked, burnt and looted the homes and properties of over a dozen legislators, including a minister prompting the Centre to deploy more armed forces in the violence-hit areas.
An indefinite curfew was also imposed in several districts of the Imphal valley.
(With inputs from PTI, Express News Service)
