More Than 50 People Dead in Manipur Violence
Manipur is facing severe riots from the past couple of days! Here’s the story about how and why it is happening.
According to an official, the Indian Army and Assam Rifles, which had been called to calm down the violence in Manipur, have rescued more than 23,000 civilians and moved them to the safe shelters and some in army camps. Eight camps have been set up by the Assam Government, and a peace committee has been set up. Manipur witnessed the army significantly increasing surveillance efforts by using aerial means like drones and helicopters. According to officials the death toll increased to 60 and hundreds have been injured. 35,000 people have been displaced and around 1,700 houses but miscreants on a looting spree snatched 1041 weapons from police armouries and 1000 rounds of ammunition during the violence
The good news is that since the rescue operations began, no fresh incidents of violence have been reported and the curfew hours had been relaxed for 3 hours in certain areas so that the people could go out and buy necessary items. Meanwhile, at least 1500 people have escaped Manipur and fled to the border areas of Assam. Amidst ensuing clashes in Manipur, a public interest litigation (PIL) petition was filed before the Supreme Court on 6th May 2023 seeking directions to the Central and State governments to evacuate the Manipuri Tribals who had fled to rescue camps and to ensure they reach their residence safely under security escort. "These attacks had the full support of the party in power (Indian People's Party, at the State as well as the Centre which supports the dominant group and has planned the attacks which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of India," the petition said.
The PIL further said that 30 tribal people were killed by the dominant community and 132 were injured but no first information report (FIR) has been registered so far in relation to any of these. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted - The voters of Manipur are feeling betrayed just a year after putting the BJP in power in their state. It’s time for the President's Rule (state emergency). The state Govt is just not up to the job they were elected to do,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “Manipur is burning and people are dying, but PM (Narendra) and home minister Amit Shah are behaving as if they have nothing to do with it. Today, if Manipur is burning, it is because of hate politics. We took out ‘ Bharat Jodo Yatra’ against this hate politics. And this is our ideology.”
Many students from Maharashtra are studying in Manipur's institutes like NITs, IITs, etc. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that a special aircraft was arranged to rescue 22 students from Manipur. They were first taken to Assam from where they were safely brought home in that special flight. Meanwhile the NEET exam that was held on 7th May 2023, was postponed for candidates whose test center was in Manipur. New dates will be announced soon.
