Kuki-Zo entities welcome PM's likely visit to Manipur, oppose dance events during trip
Imphal (PTI): Several organisations representing the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's likely visit to the state on September 13, but opposed a planned dance programme as part of a ceremony to welcome him.
The Imphal Hmar Displaced Committee claimed that the PM should interact with those affected in the ethnic violence instead of participating in the welcome ceremony.
Gangte Students Organisation in Churachandpur district said it would welcome the PM's likely visit, but "we can't dance with tears in our eyes!"
"Our mourning is not yet over, our tears are not yet dried, our wounds are not yet healed, we cannot dance with joy," the Imphal Hmar Displaced Committee said in a statement.
Instead of taking part in a grand welcome ceremony, the PM should interact with the displaced people who are lodged at relief camps, it said.
The Churachandpur-based students' organisation, however, claimed that the PM's presence would help the ethnic violence-hit people heal their wounds and express grievances.
Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the Kuki community, stressed that the prime minister should be welcomed in the state, but the visit must also "serve justice and recognition of the Kuki-Zo people's collective aspirations".
The organisation claimed that the demand for a political solution remains "clear and firm" and that temporary relief measures cannot bring a lasting solution.
The PM's likely visit is seen as an opportunity for a section of people in the Meitei-majority Imphal valley to express their hardships.
"The prime minister's presence in the state will offer us a platform to share long-standing grievances and how innocent villagers have been affected by the ethnic strife," said Soibam Reagan, a villager in the Imphal East district.
A women's organisation Imagi Meira said the PM, during his visit to Manipur, should direct officials to allow Meiteis to move along the national highway and to ensure their safety.
More than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023.
The Centre had imposed the President’s rule in Manipur after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned.
The state assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
