Govt plans counter-offensive for House battle on Manipur | India News

NEW DELHI: With the battlelines drawn over the opposition’s no-confidence vote, the government looks set to launch a counter-offensive to blast holes in the allegations of mishandling Manipur in what can set the stage for a

bruising showdown on the floor of Lok Sabha.
In response to the opposition’s plan to make Manipur violence the main plank of their attack, government leaders have prepared their own chargesheet against “callousness and mishandling” of the bouts of violence which marked the state under Congress regimes. Sources involved in the planning said speakers from the treasury benches would point to the Naga-Kuki clashes which claimed 750 lives between 1993-1998 and led to the destruction of 350 villages. They underlined that the “active phase” of violence had continued for eight months, and was followed by sporadic killings that continued until 1998.

Sources, citing records available with the home ministry, said the inter-tribal conflict between Kukis and Paites between June 1997 and September 1998 resulted in 352 deaths and destruction of more than 50 villages, besides displacing 13,000 people.
BJP’s counter-push will also include the Meitei-Pangal clash of May 1993 which left 100 dead, the Kuki-Tamil clashes in Moreh in 1995 which claimed nine lives and forced 9,000 of the 13,000 Tamil population in the town to leave.
Speakers from the treasury benches are also likely to highlight the 1,728 “reported cases of fake encounters” during the 15 years of Congress rule under former CM O Ibobi Singh. “They were so brazen and persistent that the SC ordered an investigation,” a BJP leader said. He also pointed to the recurrent blockades during Congress rule, especially between 2010 and 2017.
“The protests, which brought life to a standstill and sent prices of essential commodities soaring, ranged from 30 days to as many as 139 days during those years and yet failed to provoke any response from either the then PM or the UPA chief,” a source said.
BJP speakers will contrast the “infamous” routine with the fact that not a single blockade was organised during BJP rule. They are also expected to argue that the BJP government swiftly responded to the eruption of violence in May by dispatching forces and by getting Army engineers to construct a railway platform at Khongsang to ensure the first-ever delivery of essential commodities to Manipur by rail.