Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who returned on Sunday after his trip to US and Egypt, on initiatives by centre and state governments to bring normalcy in Manipur paralysed due to the ethnic-clashes.
A day before, Shah met Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh at his Delhi residence and submitted a report on the “evolving situation” in Manipur. Singh assured the Home Minister that with the assistance of Centre, the State has been able to control the violence to a great extent.
Speaking to reporters at Imphal on Monday, the Manipur CM said Shah has expressed concern over the changing nature of violence in the northeastern state. “The changing nature of violence from exchange of fire in the peripheral areas to the civil unrest in the valley districts has become a matter of concern for Amit Shahji,” Singh said after returning from New Delhi on Sunday night.
He also stated that HM “raised issues such as the attacks on the house of Union Minister of State for External Affairs RK Ranjan Singh and the residence of state minister Sushindro Meitei, the ongoing arson and destruction of government properties and the hampering of movement of security forces”.
The Home Ministry had said that it was committed to providing all possible help to bring peace in the state.
Earlier on Saturday, Amit Shah had also chaired an all-party meeting with leaders of various political parties in the capital to discuss the situation on Manipur. In that meeting, Shah, said sources, had apprised the leaders that PM Modi was constantly monitoring the situation in the north-eastern state since day one and “guiding us with full sensitivity to find solution to this problem”.
The opposition leaders have been questioning silence of Prime Minister on the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities which has reportedly claimed more than 100 lives and left more than 300 injured.
On May 3, clashes first broke out after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent, while Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 per cent of Manipur’s population. And Meiteis live mostly in the Imphal Valley in comparison to Nagas and Kukis who reside in the hill districts of the State.