CPI(M) delegation to visit Manipur from Friday

Imphal: A four-member delegation of the CPI(M), led by party general secretary Sitaram Yechury, will visit the ethnic strife-torn Manipur for two days from Friday.

Besides Yechury, the delegation will also have the party’s Central Committee members Jitendra Chaudhury, Suprakash Talukdar and Deblina Hembram, CPI(M) said in a statement on Thursday.

“Apart from the strife-torn areas, the delegation will also visit relief camps at Churachandpur, Moirang and Imphal. The delegation will also meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey and various other civil society organisations,” it said.

A group of MPs of the opposition bloc India visited Manipur for two days from July 29. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also visited the northeastern state in June.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had visited Manipur in May.

The ethnic clashes broke out in the northeastern state on May 3, after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals – Nagas and Kukis – constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.