India’s government to hold rare talks with opposition amid uproar over Modi’s absence in violence-hit Manipur

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

India’s minister of home affairs will hold a rare all-party meeting on Saturday to discuss the spiralling ethnic violence in the northeast state of Manipur with opposition political parties.

Signalling an acknowledgement of the situation turning out of control in the state, the home affairs minister said the meeting will be held at 3pm local time in capital Delhi.

Under the grip of unprecedented violence for nearly two months, Manipur has seen more than 100 deaths and 40,000 people have been displaced in clashes between the majority Meitei and Kuki communities.

Houses, churches, temples, shops and businesses have been torched amid widespread violence in the state raging over the demand of Meiteis to seek tribal status for access to economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education.

The opposition Congress party has called out prime minister Narendra Modi for his absence from the scheduled high-level meeting as he wrapped up his state visit to the US from where he will embark on his maiden state visit to Egypt.

Rahul Gandhi, opposition leader of Congress, said: “Manipur has been burning since 50 days, but the prime minister remained silent.”

“An all-party meeting was called when the prime minister himself is not in the country! Clearly, this meeting is not important for the prime minister,” he said.

The announcement by the home ministry came hours after Congress Parliamentary Party chair Sonia Gandhi released a video message raising concerns over “unprecedented violence” in Manipur.

“From nearly 50 days we have witnessed a great human tragedy in Manipur,” she said.

“The unprecedented violence that has devastated the lives of people in your state (Manipur) and uprooted thousands has left a deep wound in the conscience of our nation.”

Chief of opposition party All India Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee, said it is “too late now” but she will be sending her representative to the meeting.

“I had also written a letter that I want to visit Manipur for peace purposes. I got a reply yesterday, after the all-party meeting was called. I will be sending Derek O’Brien in that meeting," she told ANI.

It is rare for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to consult the opposition on governing matters. It was the government’s first outreach across the political spectrum in the remote hilly state of Manipur.

It comes amid the government’s efforts to break the deadlock in the negotiation between two warring groups. Mr Shah, who is responsible for matters of internal security and domestic police, visited the state for four days last month to meet a cross-section of people.

But his visit yielded no breakthrough.

Following the initial wave of extensive clashes between 3 to 5 May, Manipur has been gripped by a second wave of violence involving arson and shootings, primarily occurring in the regions situated between the Kuki-dominated hills and the Meitei-dominated valley.

The most severe incident during this recent surge was on the night of 13 June in Aigejang village, located in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district, where nine individuals were killed in gunfire and arson.

Mr Modi, who has promised his efforts to restore peace in Ukraine during his visit to meet Joe Biden, has remained silent on unabating violence in the state with opposition raising questions on his “stoic silence”.

Ten leaders of oppositions parties in Manipur submitted a letter three-page memorandum to Prime Minister’s Office to request a meeting with him before his state visit to the US.

In Manipur, people raised posters showing Mr Modi’s face with the words: “Still missing. Have you seen this man? Status: blind and deaf.”