Manipur burned under Congress rule, but they ignored it: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Responding to a discussion on Manipur in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress of neglecting violence in the state during its tenure.

She alleged that when both the Centre and Manipur were under Congress rule, hundreds were killed, but no Union Minister visited the state to assess the situation and cool things down.

Sitharaman said that Congress governed Manipur from 2002 to 2017 and led the central government until 2014. “During that time, Manipur experienced 628 shutdowns and blockades, causing a loss of Rs 2,828 crore to the state treasury,” she said.

She also mentioned that in 2011, under Congress rule, Manipur faced a 120-day economic blockade that led to severe shortages of essential commodities. “Petrol prices soared to Rs 200 per litre, and cooking gas reached Rs 2,000 per cylinder then,” she added.

Contrasting this with the BJP government, Sitharaman said that when the recent unrest began, Union Home Minister Amit Shah personally visited Manipur, spending four days meeting with affected communities. “He moved from one camp to another, engaging with people from various groups during the most tense period,” she said.

She further noted that Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stayed in Manipur for 23 days.

Training guns on the opposition, Sitharaman remarked, “During Congress rule, no Union Minister visited Manipur during violence. But under our double-engine government, ministers have been consistently present on the ground.”

Her remarks sparked protests from opposition members, including Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sushmita Dev. In a heated exchange, Sitharaman criticised the TMC members, saying, “This is the Rajya Sabha, not the streets of Kolkata where you can create a ruckus, throw stones, and just run away.”

When a CPI-M MP claimed that communal violence of this scale had never occurred in Manipur before, Sitharaman countered by citing incidents during the Left’s rule. “The most horrific riots in West Bengal occurred under CPI-M. Violence also happened in Tripura and Kerala under their rule,” she asserted.

Referring to past violence in Manipur, Sitharaman recalled that during Congress Chief Minister Rajkumar Dorendra Singh’s tenure in 1993, ethnic clashes between Kukis and Nagas resulted in 750 deaths and the burning of 350 villages. Despite the turmoil, she alleged that neither the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao nor Home Minister Shankarrao Chavan visited the state.

She also cited violence during Inder Kumar Gujral’s tenure as Prime Minister in 1997-98, when 350 people died, yet no Minister visited Manipur.

Sitharaman’s remarks were in response to the opposition’s demand seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to violence-hit Manipur.

Earlier on Monday, Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil demanded the visit of the Prime Minister to Manipur to demonstrate solidarity with its people.

IANS