Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi made his scheduled trip to strife-torn Manipur on Thursday, only to be stopped by local police when he attempted to enter the district of Churachandpur, the scene of the most violent clashes between Kuki Christian hill tribes and Meitei Hindu valley dwellers.
The police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd that formed around Gandhi’s convoy and said it was unsafe for him to proceed any further.
“Seeing the ground situation, we stopped him from moving forward and advised him to travel to Churachandpur via helicopter,” said local police chief Heisnam Balram Singh.
“There is a possibility of a grenade attack along the highway through which Rahul Gandhi is moving. Keeping his security and safety in mind, we’ve not allowed him,” Singh said.
Gandhi took this advice, drove about 12 miles back to the Manipur capital city of Imphal, and boarded a helicopter to fly to Churachandpur.
Gandhi’s party, the India National Congress (INC), professed confusion about why the police turned the convoy back since the crowd that formed around his convoy appeared friendly and excited to see him.
“Rahul Gandhi’s convoy has been stopped by police near Bishnupur. Police say that they are not in a position to allow us. People are standing on both sides of the road to wave to Rahul Gandhi. We are not able to understand why have they stopped us,” INC General Secretary KC Venugopal said.
INC President Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “using autocratic methods to stall a compassionate outreach.”
“PM Modi has not bothered to break his silence on Manipur. He has left the state to fend for itself. Now, his double engine disastrous governments are using autocratic methods to stall a compassionate outreach by Shri Rahul Gandhi,” Kharge alleged.
“This is totally unacceptable and shatters all Constitutional and Democratic norms. Manipur needs peace, NOT confrontation,” Kharge declared.
“The Prime Minister may choose to remain silent or be inactive but why stop Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to listen to all sections of the Manipuri society and provide a healing touch?” asked INC lawmaker Jairam Ramesh.
Another opposition leader, Member of Parliament Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party, said Modi and his party were “desperate” to keep critics from seeing the disaster they have created in Manipur.
“A month ago, Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter seeking permission to enter Manipur. She was not allowed. Exactly a month later, Rahul Gandhi was also denied entry. This is definitely the last 300 days of BJP government,” O’Brien said. India’s next general election is scheduled for May 2024.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retorted that Gandhi was not traveling to Manipur as a “messiah of peace,” but as a “political opportunist who wants to keep the pot boiling.”
BJP information technology chief Amit Malviya noted that Gandhi made no effort to visit Manipur when “ethnic violence raged” from 2015-2017 after three bills were passed that angered tribal residents because they saw the legislation as part of a “conspiracy by the majority Meitei community to grab tribal land.”
Malviya said Gandhi’s visit to Manipur on Thursday “is not borne out of concern for the people, but his own selfish agenda.”
“There is a reason no one trusts either him or the Congress,” the BJP official fumed.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused Gandhi of being “stubborn” by trying to reach Churachandpur by land instead of taking an inexpensive, and much safer, helicopter ride.
“Rahul Gandhi’s visit was vehemently opposed by many civil society organizations and student unions in Manipur,” Patra added. “Looking into the sensitive situation to ‘understand’ is more important than being ‘stubborn’ for petty political gains.”
“Had Rahul listened to the administration beforehand, the violent situation could have been avoided. Rahul Gandhi’s attitude is irresponsible,” Patra said.
Rahul Gandhi himself said the people of Manipur were “very welcoming and loving,” so it was “very unfortunate that the government is stopping me” from meeting with them.
In fact, India Today reported the crowd that formed around Gandhi’s convoy near Bishnupur was a mixed bag. Some were angry at the police for halting the convoy, while others chanted “Go back, Rahul!”
Manipur has been the scene of riots and deadly clashes between ethnic groups since early May when the majority Meitei petitioned to be granted the same affirmative action benefits as the much poorer hill-dwelling Kuki tribal minority. The Indian opposition accuses Modi and Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh, also a member of the BJP party, of not doing enough to stop the violence.
Two more people were killed on Thursday, and four others wounded, when gunfire broke out between Kukis and Meitei on the outskirts of Imphal. Over a hundred people have now been killed in Manipur since May, and 40,000 have been displaced as homes, businesses, and churches were burned.