Modi Govt attempts to thwart Opposition's 'false narrative' on Manipur

New Delhi: Refuting the opposition's claim that Manipur "is burning", a senior government functionary on Thursday said that no killing has occurred in the state since July 18 and asserted that peace and normalcy will be restored soon through ongoing talks with the two warring communities -- Meiteis and Kukis.

With the opposition INDIA bloc accusing the Centre of inaction, he said Home Minister Amit Shah spent three days, met 41 different groups and visited major sites of violence in Manipur. He contrasted the BJP-led dispensation's approach with that of the previous governments at the Centre when the northeastern state witnessed at least four major cases of ethnic violence.

The only time a minister replied in Parliament was in August 1993 when the then minister of state for home affairs spoke following the killing of hundreds of people and uprooting of over 350 villages during the Kuki-Naga clashes, he claimed.

Only once a minister, the then Minister of State for Home Rajesh Pilot, had visited the state for three-and-a-half hours, he said and highlighted the hands-on approach of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on the issue.

The incumbent Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai spent 22 days between May 25 and June 17 in the state, the government functionary said.

Reacting to the opposition's attack on Modi over the issue, he said the prime minister would speak to Shah every day after the violence broke out to formulate the government's approach.

There have been days when Modi has spoken to the home minister even thrice, he said.

The opposition is using the issue for political point-scoring and projecting a "false narrative" that Manipur is burning, he claimed.

Demanding a statement from Modi, the opposition has been protesting in and outside Parliament, leading to continuous adjournment of the Monsoon session's proceedings.

The graph of violence has progressively gone down, and the impression being propagated by some groups and opposition parties that the state continues to burn is entirely incorrect, the government functionary said.

He also rejected any religious angle in the violence, which has claimed nearly 150 lives since it erupted in the first week of May, saying it is entirely ethnic in character with both the communities having their share of real and perceived grievances.

There is a gulf of distrust between them that the government is working to bridge it, he said.

Meiteis are largely Hindus while Kukis are predominantly Christians.

Government agencies have been holding separate talks with Meitei and Kuki groups to listen to them and narrow down their demands to what can be worked on before all parties sit together to help restore peace and normalcy, the government functionary said.

So far, six rounds of talks have been held separately with each side, he said.

By deploying over 35,000 security personnel, the government has succeeded in creating a buffer zone between the areas with Meitei and Kuki population, he added.

More than 50,000 displaced people from both the communities were shifted successfully by May 7, he asserted.

One must keep in mind that the state has a history of ethnic tensions and violence, which was put largely to rest since the Modi government came to power in 2014, before a range of issues, including the high court's advocacy for tribal status for Meiteis, ignited the recent wave of clashes.

The decision has since been stayed.

Compared to 2005-13, the first nine years of the Congress-led UPA government, cases of insurgency have gone down by 68 per cent, killings of security personnel by 68 per cent and that of civilians by 82 per cent in the nine years of the BJP-led dispensation between 2014-23, the functionary said.

When the Congress was in power at the Centre, the state suffered from blockades for weeks and months, ranging from 30 to 139 days at its worst, he said.

"There may still be some unrest and some stray incidents of violence. But the fact that no one has been killed in the violence since July 18 does send out a message," he said.

The government is also working to curb the influx of immigrants from Myanmar and the drugs trade, also a source of tension between communities, he said.

The government has been taking biometric data of all immigrants, many of whom have entered due to internal issues in Myanmar, to ensure that they do not get citizenship benefits, he added.