Congress asserts peace process hindered as long as Biren Singh is Manipur CM

BJP alleges gruesome incident similar to Manipur in West Bengal panchayat elections.

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday reiterated its demand for dismissal of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, saying there won’t be any justice or movement towards peace in the state as long as he holds the chair.

“There won’t be any justice or movement towards peace as long as Biren Singh remains CM. The time has long past gone for the Prime Minister to act. He must act now and not deflect,” Congress general secretary in-charge Communication Jairam Ramesh wrote in a tweet.

---

Taking a swipe at the BJP government over the law and order in the Northeastern state, the MP said, “Every passing day as the truth of the horror of Manipur continues to trickle out, it is clear that the law and order in the state has collapsed. Mobs, armed vigilantes and insurgent groups are running amok. Women and families have faced the worst, unimaginable atrocities. ”

“The (state) administration is not only ‘complicit’ in the violence but has actively fanned hate. The social fabric has been completely torn apart with a total breakdown of trust between communities,” he added.

Earlier on Sunday morning, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram criticised the BJP over the matter, and said, “How can the situation in Manipur be compared to the situation in Bihar, West Bengal and Rajasthan? The Central government has not only been incompetent and partisan, it is callous and cruel when it hides behind the smokescreen of odious comparisons.”

“If stern action is required in Bihar, West Bengal and Rajasthan, certainly instruct the state governments to take stronger action, but that does not excuse the barbarism that is taking place in Manipur,” he wrote in a tweet, in an apparent reference to the recent incidents of crime against women highlighted by the BJP in these states.

On Friday, the BJP claimed that Manipur like gruesome incident had also happened with one of its nominee-candidates in the recently-concluded Panchayat elections in West Bengal.

“The Government of Manipur has collapsed. The Government of India is in a self-induced coma,” Chidambaram said.

The Congress, which has been blaming the N Biren Singh government in Manipur over the current situation, has stepped up its attack at the BJP after the video of two women being stripped, paraded, and sexually assaulted surfaced on social media.

Manipur Police on Saturday arrested one more accused who is a juvenile, taking the total number of arrests in Manipur women assault case to six.