Priyanka Gandhi, Kharge Criticise Modi Ahead of Manipur Visit, Say PM Breaks Tradition

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the Congress on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for visiting Manipur after a gap of two years since ethnic violence broke out in the state.

“I am glad that he has decided after two years that it’s worth his visiting. He should have visited much long before,” she told reporters in Kerala’s Wayanad.

Calling the Prime Minister’s delay “very unfortunate”, Priyanka Gandhi said, “He has allowed what is happening there to happen for so long, so many people to get killed and so many people to go through so much strife before he has decided to visit. That has not been the tradition of Prime Ministers in India. Right through, no matter which party they were, wherever there was pain, wherever there was suffering, they would go. That has been the tradition since independence. So, he is fulfilling it after two years, I think he should have thought of it before.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also reacted to Modi’s scheduled trip to the northeastern state, criticising him for visiting for only three hours, calling it a “farce, tokenism and a grave insult to a wounded people”.

Kharge said the planned road show in Imphal and Churachandpur is “nothing but a cowardly escape” to not hear the plight of people in relief camps.

“Your 3-hour PIT STOP in Manipur is not compassion — it is a farce, tokenism, and a grave insult to a wounded people. Your so-called ROADSHOW in Imphal and Churachandpur today, is nothing but a cowardly escape from hearing the cries of people in relief camps!”, Kharge said in a post on X.

He further criticised Modi for taking multiple foreign trips, while claiming that around 300 lives have been lost in the state, tens of thousands displaced.

“864 days of violence: ~300 lives lost, 67,000 displaced, 1,500 injured. You made 46 foreign trips since, but not a single visit to share two words of sympathy with your own citizens. Your last visit to Manipur? January 2022 — for elections! Your “Double Engine” has bulldozed the innocent lives of Manipur,” Kharge said.

The Congress president further trained his guns at Union home minister Amit Shah, saying that both the ministers’ “gross incompetence and complicity” was shielded from scrutiny after President’s rule was imposed.

“You and HM Amit Shah’s gross incompetence and complicity in betraying all communities was shielded from scrutiny, by imposing President’s Rule in the state. Violence still continues. It is the BJP which was responsible for maintaining Law & Order in the state and it is now the Union Govt which is again dithering. Not to forget, that is your government which is responsible for National Security and border patrol,” he said.

Modi is on a three-day tour of five states, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar, from September 13 to 15.

In Manipur, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of projects worth over ₹7,300 crore at Churachandpur at 12:30pm. These include the Manipur Urban Roads, drainage and asset management project worth ₹3,600 crore; five national highway projects worth more than ₹2,500 crore; the Manipur Infotech Development (MIND) project; and working women’s hostels at nine locations.

Later in the day, Modi will inaugurate development projects worth over ₹1,200 crore in Imphal and address a public gathering.