Kolkata:
Concerned about the current situation in violence-ravaged Manipur, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed on Monday that the BJP government is not providing a clear picture of the death toll in the northeastern state where gun-to-sight orders are in place .
She also lashed out at the BJP government at the center for not sending any representatives to Manipur to look into the situation.
Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke anything about what happened to that BJP-ruled state, the Trinamool Congress supremo said.
“I am quite tensed by the situation in Manipur. We are not getting a clear picture of the number of dead on sight (sequence) as the state government is not giving any information. I am really shocked,” said Ms Banerjee. said.
However, Manipur Prime Minister N Biren Singh later said that 60 people lost their lives in the ethnic riots.
Violence in Manipur is a man-made problem, Ms Banerjee claimed.
She attacked the BJP-led central government, claiming that Amit Shah is so busy with the parliamentary elections in Karnataka that they would not get a day to visit Manipur, although they have armed forces helicopters and planes.
“Manipur is burning. But no one is talking about it. Elections may come and go, but people’s lives come first. BJP is not as busy with Manipur as it is with polls. He (Amit Shah) could have spared a day and gone could have gone to Manipur. He could have come to Bengal later,” she said.
Mr Shah will visit West Bengal on Tuesday to mark the birthday of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore.
Ms Banerjee also said 25 people, including 18 students from the state, who were stranded in Manipur were brought back on Monday morning.
These students took BSc, MSc and PhD courses at Central Agricultural University in Imphal, she said, adding that the travel costs were borne by the state government.
Ms Banerjee said 68 students from West Bengal are still trapped in Manipur and several people from states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan are being provided with transit accommodation by her government.
Violent clashes erupted in the northeastern state after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organized in the 10 hill districts on May 3 to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, leading to the deaths of at least 54 people.
Meiteis represent about 53 percent of Manipur’s population and mainly live in the Imphal valley. Tribes – Nagas and Kukis – make up another 40 percent of the population and live in the hilly districts.
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