Hopeful of curbing Manipur violence, talking to both Meiteis & Kukis: Shah

Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Centre was hopeful of controlling the situation in strife-torn Manipur, as talks were going on with both Meiteis and Kukis to find a solution to the ongoing ethnic violence there.

The Home Minister firmly junked talks of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s resignation or replacement. “There were sporadic cases of violence of late, but largely, over the last three months, Manipur has been relatively calm. There has been no incident there for the last three days. We are sure of regaining control in the state and restoration of peace,” Shah said.

“It is an ethnic issue and it can’t be resolved unless both ethnicities engage in talks. We are talking to both,” Shah said, adding that there Biren Singh won’t be replaced as CM.

Reacting to Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks, the Congress asked if the situation in Manipur was as normal as he made it out to be, why hadn’t PM Modi visited the state yet. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: “If the situation is as normal as the self-styled Chanakya has made it out to be, why hasn’t the non-biological PM found the time to visit Manipur since May 3, 2023?”

On being asked about the pending census work, Shah said that it would be conducted soon and added that when the announcement for the census work will be made, other things (whether there will be a caste census) will also be made public. Referring to recurrence of rail mishaps, the Home Minister said that the Centre would go into details of these incidents and find out the reason behind them.