KOLKATA, July 20 (PTI): The Trinamool Congress on Thursday slammed the BJP governments at the Centre and in Manipur, condemning their handling of the ongoing ethnic strife in the northeastern state, and said the “most horrific and barbaric” incidents in independent India are happening there.
Related Posts:
![258]](https://thehillstimes.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/258.jpg "Manipur police slammed for ‘tardy’ probe; DGP summoned")
The comment from the Mamata Banerjee-led party comes a day after a video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur surfaced.
The TMC also alleged that the saffron camp made attempts to “hush up” the incident of two women being paraded naked in the northeastern state.
Tension mounted in the hills of Manipur after the May 4 video surfaced on Wednesday, showing two women from one of the warring communities in the state being paraded naked by a mob from the other side.
The Manipur Police on Thursday arrested one of the main accused who was seen in the video.
“Manipur BJP CM @NBirenSingh claims he found out about the sexual assault on 2 Kuki-Zo women “just now”. Manipur Police says an FIR was filed when the incident happened 2.5 months ago on May 4. Do DGP Manipur & CM not communicate with each other on serious law & order issues? Or, more likely, the BJP CM wanted to brush this incident under the carpet & has now been caught when the video came out on social media. Shame!” TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale said on Twitter.
Another senior TMC leader and spokesperson Biswajit Deb said the country wants to know what stopped Prime Minister Narendra Modi from visiting the violence-hit Manipur.
“Shameless BJP! Shameless Manipur Government! Where are the central forces now? Where are fact-finding teams? The people of India will give BJP a befitting reply through the ballot. What has stopped the Prime Minister from visiting Manipur? The country wants to know.” Deb wrote on the microblogging site.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi said the incident of women being paraded naked in Manipur has shamed 140 crore Indians, asserting that the law will act with its full might and no guilty will be spared.
The Trinamool Congress has been alleging that the “divisive” policies of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Manipur have led to ethnic strife.
Manipur has been witnessing ethnic clashes since May 3 between the majority Meitei community, concentrated in the Imphal valley, and the tribal Kukis, occupying the hills. Over 150 people have been killed in the violence so far.
A five-member TMC delegation visited Manipur on Wednesday to take stock of the ground situation and spoke to members of various communities.
“What is happening in Manipur is horrific and barbaric. In post-independent India, one of the most horrific killings is happening there, and the BJP government is just a mute spectator. We were shocked to see the situation in the northeastern state,” TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who was part of the delegation, said.
The Trinamool Congress had on Wednesday said the party will raise the Manipur issue in Parliament, while condemning the incident of two women being paraded naked and molested by a group of men in the northeastern state.
“Blood-curdling visuals have emerged from Manipur where two women… were paraded naked & sexually assaulted by a large group of men. What is stopping the Centre from dispatching fact-finding teams & commissions to Manipur? Why is the WCD Minister still silent on the matter?” the party tweeted a day before.
Reacting to the TMC’s allegations, BJP leader Rahul Sinha said the ruling party in West Bengal is “trying to divert attention from its failures in maintaining the law and order situation” in the state.
“So many people have died in the entire Panchayat poll process since June 8, when the elections were announced. They should first answer why so many people died in the rural polls in Bengal. This is an attempt to divert attention from the violence in Bengal,” he added
