Manipur: Manipur was blockade capital under Manmohan Singh, state healing due to PM Modi: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma | India News

NEW DELHI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday came down heavily at the Congress for criticising the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for its policy towards Manipur and alleged that the state had become the blockade capital of the country under the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh.

In a seven-tweet thread, which he also pinned on his Twitter timeline, Sarma said, “The Congress’s duplicity is simply alarming.”
He questioned the Congress for the display of “sudden and immense interest” in Manipur. “It is Important to rewind a bit and look at the then PM Manmohan Singh’s response to similar crises in the state,” he said.

Sarma, who is also the convener of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), said, “During UPA’s tenure, Manipur became the blockade capital of the country.”
Recounting the recent past, he said between 2010-2017, when Congress ruled the state, every year there were blockades ranging from 30 days a year to up to 139 days a year.
Sarma said petrol and LPG prices went up to Rs 240 and Rs 1,900 a litre during each of these blockades, “translating into a complete humanitarian crisis”.
The Assam CM said 2011 was one of the worst blockades in Manipur lasting more than 120 days.
“That year, the then PM (Manmohan Singh) and UPA chairperson (Sonia Gandhi) did not even utter a word for those 123 days when Manipur was burning. The PM was busy bailing out private companies,” he said.
Sarma quoted a news report which said there was an absolute shortage of essential commodities with petrol being sold in the black market for as costly as Rs 200 per litre and an LPG cylinder cost Rs 2,000. Even hospitals were affected with medicines and life-saving items such as oxygen cylinders being in short supply, he said.
He alleged Manmohan Singh did not mention a word about Manipur for 121 days.
Sarma said, “The fact is during 2004-2014, when Congress was ruling the nation and the state, more than 991 civilians and security personnel were killed in Manipur. Since May 2014 till date, this tragic statistic has reduced by 80%.”
He said the blockade ended after four months when the BJP government took charge of the state.
The CM said, “The pain arising from multi-ethnic conflicts in Manipur has its genesis in faulty policies of Congress governments during formative years of the state.”
He noted that repairing fault-lines created by “seven decades of misgovernance” will take time.
He claimed that since 2014, there has been “tremendous healing” of Manipur’s social fabric.
“This process of resolving decades old ethnic conflicts will be completed in totality under the leadership of honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji,” Sarma said.
Sarma’s remarks come a day after he demanded an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for, what he alleged, “defaming” Manipur. While condemning the Manipur viral video incident which showed two women being paraded naked, the BJP leader also asked people not to paint the whole state or whole of Northeast with the same brush.

Sarma condemned the parading of two women naked in Manipur on May 4 but said also it should be treated as an isolated incident. In a candid admission, he said all states witness incidents of crimes against women, including Assam.
Sarma shared seven incidents of crimes against tribal people and women in several states in the last few months.
He asked his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, who has condemned the Manipur incident, whether incidents of rape have not taken place in her state in the last 12 years.