Disarm all cadres in Manipur, initiate talks with Kuki and Meitei communities, CPI-M asks government

 IMPHAL: CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Sunday that without disarmament of the cadres of all groups, the Manipur crisis would not be resolved and also asked the BJP government to start talks with the warring Kuki and Meitei communities for resolving ethnic strife. Coming down heavily on both the central and state governments, Yechury said that the "double engine" government of the BJP must double their efforts to bring back normalcy in Manipur by curbing the violence that has continued unabated for over three months. Suggesting the government initiate talks with both Kuki and Meitei communities, including the civil society organisations (CSOs) of both sides, he told the media that disarmament should be a precondition for the talks. "Talks have to start with a ceasefire by the armed groups," the leader said.

A four-member CPI-M delegation led by Yechury visited Manipur for three days (August 18–20) and also held a series of meetings with an alliance of 10 like-minded parties, including the Congress, Janata Dal-United, and Aam Aadmi Party, church leaders, and CSOs of Meitei, Kuki, and Naga communities. They met Governor Anusuiya Uikey and discussed the prevailing crisis in the northeastern state. The Left delegation also visited various districts, including the worst-affected Churachandpur, and met the displaced people and the inmates of the relief camps.

Demanding a parliamentary delegation be sent to Manipur to study the situation and suggest suitable measures, Yechury accused both the central and state governments of being either indifferent, incompetent, or complacent over the Manipur situation. "We have been demanding to send an all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Manipur and to discuss the state’s situation with the opposition parties, but the BJP-led government is not listening," he said before leaving Imphal. On the pathetic situations in the relief camps, the CPI-M leader said that there were huge scarcities of basic amenities, including baby food and medicines, in most of the refugee camps where the thousands of displaced and violence-affected people had been staying for over three months.

The other members of the delegation were CPI-M Tripura state secretary Jitendra Choudhury, his Assam counterpart Suprakash Talukdar, and former West Bengal minister Deblina Hembrom. All three leaders are also members of the CPI-M Central Committee. (IANS)

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