Home Minister Should Lead All-Party Delegation To Manipur As A Discontinuous Pre-Condition For Talks, Says Sitaram Yechury

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), said on Sunday that disarmament should be a prerequisite for peace negotiations between the Meitei and tribal populations in Manipur, and that Union Home Minister Amit Shah should head an all-party mission there.

Yechury further said that communication and discussion are the only means through which all of India’s issues have been handled to date and that the same should occur in Manipur. Yechury led a four-member CPI (M) team to Manipur on a three-day visit.

Since May 3, when skirmishes broke out between the Meitei and tribal populations of the state after a tribal demonstration opposed to the proposed scheduled tribe (ST) classification for the Meitis, Manipur has been plagued by ethnic violence. Up to this point, more than 160 people have died, and it’s been reported that 60,000 people were evacuated earlier. The state has been mostly split between Meitei and tribal enclaves, and there is a great animosity between the two populations. Houses have been set on fire, government facilities have been assaulted, police guns have been stolen, and political and religious institutions have all been targeted throughout the months-long unrest.

In remarks to the media at the Manipur Press Club on Sunday, Yechury urged the BJP’s “double engine” administration to step up efforts to end the war.

“The negotiations should be subject to disarmament. Talks must start with a ceasefire before moving on to the problems, according to Yechury, as quoted by PTI.

Many ethnic insurgent groups are present in Manipur. Since the start of the fighting, several police guns have also been stolen and used as weapons by the two warring communities in addition to these ethnic militant organizations. According to The Times of India, gangs robbed Manipur Rifles in May of 4,617 distinct automatic and semi-automatic weapons and more than 6 lakh rounds of ammunition.

Yechuri said, “There must be some form of conversation and debate, and it is here that the governments—both the Center and the state governments—have the major obligation. Please use all of your might to try to get everyone to a table if the government has two engines. We have already carried out this. It is the only method that has worked to overcome every issue India has encountered over the last 75 years.

According to PTI, Yechury further asked the Centre to send a legislative delegation to the state, claiming that the administrations in both the Center and the state are either ineffective or complacent in light of the ongoing violence since May 3.

Yechuri also urged the administration to have discussions with opposition parties in the state, according to PTI. “We have told the Centre repeatedly — send a delegation of all political parties in Parliament led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Manipur,” said Yechuri.

Yechury also claimed that the relief centers where the victims of the violence were residing lacked essential facilities. The CPI (M) team visited the relief camps in Moirang and Churachandpur earlier on Friday and denounced the “complicit callousness” of the BJP-run state and federal administrations. On Saturday, the group met with Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey and brought up the matter.

Yechury has called for N Biren Singh, the chief minister of Manipur, to be fired before traveling there. The CPI (M) delegation also includes Jitendra Chaudhury, Suprakash Talukdar, and Deblina Hembram, who are all members of the Central Committee.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been under fire from the Opposition for his silence on the Manipur crises and for the Center’s reaction to them. Modi didn’t publicly address Manipur until just before the start of the Parliament’s Monsoon Session, more than two months later. After two tribal women were seen being paraded nude and being touched in a video that went viral, Modi addressed the country.

The CPI (M) joined the Congress and eight other opposition parties in blaming the BJP’s “politics of divide and rule in Manipur” and referring to Chief Minister Singh as the crisis’ “architect” in June.