WE WERE ALL aware of the situation in Manipur, but when we visited the state with Rahul Gandhi, what we saw and heard was beyond our imagination. The state appeared to have abandoned its responsibilities to the people. The government neither tried to bring normalcy by bridging the schism between the two communities nor did it help the victims of the violence.
The need of the hour is to ensure that the two communities sit together. The situation is so bad that officers from one community cannot even enter an area dominated by the other community. The government has failed miserably to bridge the gap between them.
Rahul visited Manipur to provide a healing touch to the people. He did not go there to do politics. He did not utter a single political statement during the visit. We went to the relief camps of both the communities and met the people. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories. They had lost everything―their homes, their belongings and their kin. Most of the people we met had lost a child, a sibling or a parent.
The people reacted emotionally to Rahul. They broke down on seeing him, and the way they unburdened themselves before him showed how much they trusted him. Rahul provided them a shoulder to cry on.
We are aware of the BJP’s reaction to Rahul’s visit to Manipur. It is disappointing. Manipur has been crying out for help for so long, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not said anything that would show that he empathises with the people. His government has failed miserably in handling the situation, and has been unable to make any progress in controlling the violence or restoring peace. However, when another leader takes an initiative to reach out to the people, listens to them with an open heart and seeks to share their grief, he is attacked by the BJP. This is ironic and only exposes how petty their thinking is and how small their hearts are.
Efforts were made to place hurdles in Rahul’s path during the visit. Wherever we sought to go, we were stopped and we were told it would be better that we went there by helicopter. It was only a way to prevent us from making any meaningful contact during the visit.
We called upon Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey to apprise her of our experience, and what the people had conveyed to us. We put forth the people’s needs before her. Most of the victims in the camps said they needed medicine, food, milk and supplies for children. Many women in the camps have newborn babies. We conveyed to her our belief that the faith of the people in the administration needed to be restored, and steps had to be taken by the government in this regard.
We will continue our efforts. We discussed the situation in the meeting of the party’s parliamentary strategy group. We briefed our colleagues about our experiences during the visit. We will certainly raise the issue of the government’s failure in restoring peace in Manipur in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Venugopal is general secretary (organisation) of the Congress.
―As told to Soni Mishra.