Manipur entirely divided on ethnic lines, govt has no plan to rehabilitate displaced: Sushmita Dev

Manipur, which is devastated by violence during the past 78 days, has been completely divided on ethnic lines and the state government is also visibly helpless, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Dev said on Wednesday on the first day of her party delegation's two-day visit to the strife-torn state.

The four-member parliamentary delegation, immediately after their arrival in Imphal, went to the tribal-dominated Churachanpur district and talked to the displaced people living in relief camps.

They then met the displaced people living in relief camps in Imphal and later called on Governor Anusuiya Uikey and discussed the prevailing situation.

Dev said that people of all communities are unhappy with the Central and state governments as both have totally failed to control the situation despite 60,000 Central paramilitary forces personnel deployed in the state.

“We have told the Governor that there is a crisis of baby food and other relief materials in the relief camps. The government has no plan on how to rehabilitate the thousands of displaced people now staying in the relief camps,” Dev told IANS over phone.

The 5-member Trinamool team was supposed to visit Manipur on July 14 but it has been deferred to July 19-20, as the state government asked them not to visit the trouble-torn state that time, citing law and order problems.

“Our party supremo Mamata di (West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) was keen to visit Manipur in June but the state Home Department did not respond favourably. People of Manipur were deeply upset why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained silent. After visiting Manipur and taking the views and opinions of the people in the crisis-ridden state, we will raise the issue in the Parliament,” Dev stated.

TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien was supposed to lead the parliamentary delegation but he, immediately after reaching Imphal, returned to Delhi to attend an all party meeting to be held on Thursday in connection with the Monsoon session of Parliament, beginning on Thursday.

Other members of the Trinamool delegation include the party's Rajya Sabha member Dola Sen, and Lok Sabha members Kalyan Banerjee and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.

Earlier, the Congress and the Left parties’ delegations had visited Manipur. Accompanied by Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal and in-charge of several northeastern states, Ajoy Kumar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Manipur on June 29-30. The delegation visited several districts and talked to the people belonging to different communities.

The ethnic violence in Manipur, which broke out after a tribal organisation held a rally on May 3 opposing the recognition of the Meitei community as Scheduled Tribe, so far has claimed over 150 lives and injured more than 600 people. In view of the ethnic strife in Manipur, approximately 50,650 men, women and children belonging to different communities have been displaced and are now sheltered in 350 camps set up in schools, government buildings and auditoriums.