Manipur incident extremely shameful, feel ashamed to call myself Indian: BJP MP Gautam Gambhir
New Delhi, Jul 21: BJP MP Gautam Gambhir on Friday termed the incident of two women being paraded naked in Manipur "extremely shameful" and said he feels ashamed to call himself an Indian.
The cricketer-turned-BJP MP from East Delhi told reporters on the sidelines of an event that Manipur-like incidents are not a common occurrence and it is the duty of the state's chief minister to not let these happen.
"It is extremely shameful. I feel ashamed to call myself an Indian because the issue is not only limited to Manipur. It has lowered the head of the entire country, so it should not be politicised," Gambhir said.
Tension mounted in the hills of Manipur after the May 4 video showing two women from one of the warring communities being paraded naked by a group of men from the other side surfaced on Wednesday.
Gambhir alleged that opposition parties were indulging in politics over the incident and said it was a matter of shame for all 140 crore Indians.
"Politics is being done on the Manipur issue but it is not not a state-specific incident. If anything like this happens to two women or girls, it is a matter of shame for the whole country. As an Indian, our heads must hang in shame," he said.
No incident like in Manipur should happen in any state in the future, he said.
Gambhir, replying to a question on the lack of appropriate action by the Centre, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the "strictest punishment" to the perpetrators of the "most heinous" crime.
Modi, in his first public comments on the Manipur violence, vowed on Thursday that no guilty would be spared and the law would act with its "full might and firmness".
Gambhir said, "This incident is no longer an issue of Manipur. It has become a national issue. Although it happened in Manipur and, as our prime minister has said, it should not happen anywhere in the country."
The prime minister has said the strictest punishment will be given to the accused, the BJP MP said.
The chief ministers of all the states are duty-bound to ensure that the women and girls are safe and such incidents never happen, Gambhir added.
Four people have been arrested in connection with the incident, official sources in Imphal said on Thursday night, as the 26-second video capturing the ordeal of the two tribal women stoked nationwide outrage.
Scores of people have lost their lives and several injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3.
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Two women died, 6 taken ill after ‘consuming’ mango kernel gruel in Odisha
Bhubaneswar/Berhampur/Phulbani, Nov 1: At least two tribal women died and six others fell ill after allegedly consuming mango kernel gruel in Odisha's Kandhamal district, police said on Friday.
Consumption of mango kernel, prepared by boiling the seeds in water, was reported from Mandipanka village in the district's Daringbadi block, an officer said.
While one of the two women (Rasmita Pattamajhi aged 22) died on Thursday night at Mohana community health centre in Gajapati district where she was undergoing treatment after "consuming the gruel", another woman (Runu Majhi aged 29) breathed her last while being taken to MKCG Medical College Hospital in Berhampur, Gadapur sarpanch Kumari Mallick said.
Six others, who fell ill after allegedly consuming the gruel, were admitted to a hospital and their condition was critical, said Dr Subrat Das, a medical officer of the health facility.
"All the six have been admitted to the hospital in a serious condition. We suspected that they fell sick due to food poisoning. The exact cause of the illness will be ascertained after completion of the investigation," he added.
The six were identified as Pravati Patmajhi, Dranglu Patmajhi, Tuni Majhi, Susama Patmajhi, Jita Majhi and Jibanti Majhi, Daringbadi BDO Pritiranjan Ratha said.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has rejected allegations that tribal people have been consuming mango kernel gruel due to a lack of access to rice under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
Rasmita's husband Anil Pattamajhi alleged that they were denied rice under PDS for the last three months because of which his wife consumed mango kernel.
However, Kandhamal district magistrate-cum-collector Amrit Ruturaj dismissed the allegations, saying the family received rice according to PDS norms. "We are awaiting the postmortem report to determine the facts," the collector added.
Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida, who is also in-charge of the women and child development department said, "It is not a case of malnutrition. Mango kernel is part of their (tribal) regular diet. Sometime, the mango kernels get contaminated and lead to such unfortunate incidents. We have been actively spreading awareness about the risks of food contamination."
Health and family welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling, who ordered a departmental inquiry into the death of two tribal women, said a team from the district headquarters hospital and another local team are at the spot to assess the situation and conduct a detailed probe into the incident.
Mahaling said that the government was waiting for the postmortem report for a confirmation on the cause of the deaths. "People in Kandhamal consume mango kernel. It is common in that region and there also have been reports of health complications linked to it in the past," he said.
The Kandhmal incident reminds a similar tragedy involving mango kernel deaths in Kashipur block of Rayagada district, where at least 20 people died in 2001, and two more succumbed to mango kernel consumption in 2016. Additionally, mango kernel has claimed lives in Laxmipur in Koraput district in 2012 and 2013, as well as in Jharigaon in Nabarangpur district in 2018.
