Govt’s priority to restore peace in Manipur keeping the state united: Amit Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday said that the priority of the next government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be to restore peace in strife-torn Manipur by talking to all sides and keeping the state united.

Addressing an election meeting in Imphal, he also reiterated the Centre’s resolve to seal border with Myanmar to prevent illegal infiltration and scrapping of the free movement regime (FMR).

“I want to tell people residing in the (Imphal) valley and hills of Manipur that in the coming days Narendra Modi’s priority is to bring peace to the state by talking to all sides and keeping the state united,” Shah said.

Manipur has been roiled by ethnic clashes between the Meiteis, who are dominant in Imphal Valley, and Kukis, who are in majority in some hill districts, since May last year. The violence has claimed 221 lives (the latest incident was in April 13 in which two Kukis were killed) and displaced around 50,000.

The violence has led to divisions on the ground with both sides setting up barricades at borders between districts and not allowing people from the other community to enter. Since the start of the violence, Kuki MLAs, including 7 from the ruling BJP, and other groups have been demanding creation of a separate administration in areas dominated by them.

“There was no development in Manipur during the past Congress rule. In the past six years, the BJP-led government in the state tried to change that, but one incident of ethnic clashes happened. I want to assure all that in the coming days, we will talk to all sides and establish peace without compromising on the state’s integrity. This is the resolve of the Narendra Modi government,” said Shah.

Shah spoke on the Centre’s decision announced in February this year to seal the India-Myanmar border and scrap the free movement regime (FMR) provision that allowed people living along the border on either side to travel up to 16 km in the other country without a visa and stay up to two weeks.

“There’s a conspiracy to change the demography of a small state like Manipur through infiltration of illegal immigrants (from Myanmar). The government under Narendra Modi has decided to seal the borders with Myanmar to secure Manipur. We have started work on sealing the boundary. FMR was misused for smuggling narcotics. We decided to abolish it,” he said.

Shah accused the previous Congress governments at Centre and in the state of ignoring Manipur and highlighted the steps taken in the past 10 years to usher development and bring peace.

“This election is not between the BJP and the Congress, but between those who want to divide Manipur and those who want to keep the state united. The Congress speaks of division wherever it goes. It was responsible for the country getting divided (into India and Pakistan),” he said.

“Even now it speaks of dividing it into north and south India. They formed an agenda in Manipur of dividing the state. I want to reiterate that no one has the guts to divide Manipur and we won’t let it happen,” Shah added.

Shah said that efforts by Prime Minister Modi were responsible for ushering in peace in northeast, a region troubled by insurgency since Independence. He said that more than 10 peace deals have been signed with terror outfits of the region in the past few years, which has resulted in over 9,000 cadres of these groups giving up arms.

“The Congress never respected Manipur. There were thousands of road blockades during their rule, three years of strife and hundreds of people killed in fake encounters when O. Ibobi Singh was chief minister,” he said.

Shah reminded how around 750 people were killed during the ethnic conflict between Nagas and Kukis in Manipur (in 1992), nearly 100 killed in clashes between Meiteis and Pangals (in 1993) and around 350 killed in conflict between Kukis and Paites in 1997.

He reminded that it was the BJP government at Centre which decided to implement inner line permit (ILP) regime in Manipur to keep tab on entry of outsiders to the state.

He said that during its 10-year rule from 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led government at Centre provided ₹39,000 crore for Manipur’s development. In contrast, since 2014, the BJP-led government at Centre has given ₹120,000 crore to the state.

Shah listed development projects undertaken in the state including construction of highways, rail tracks, air connectivity and hospitals. He promised that in the next 5 years everyone in Manipur will have houses with electricity, toilet and LPG connection and each person will get ₹5 lakh as health insurance.