The nation is baffled why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not bothered to set foot in Manipur throughout the year while he rushed and held a roadshow in Sandeshkhali, said Anto Akkara, journalist and producer of the investigative documentary, Manipur – a Blot on Indian Democracy.
As he referred to “the pathetic state of Indian democracy” in context of the Manipur violence, Akkara spoke about how the PM’s steady involvement in Sandeshkhali contradicts his prolonged silence on Manipur. This comment came during the premier of the Bengali version of his documentary at the Kolkata Press Club on 22 May. While Jawahar Sircar, Member of Parliament, former CEO of Prasar Bharati was supposed to preside over the ceremony, his absence was noted and reported due to probable health complications.
Following the premier of the 24-minute documentary, Akkara emphasized how the PM had time for “an Elephant Safari early in March at Kaziranga National Park near the border of Manipur that continues to simmer” but remained “deaf and dumb to calls for restoration of law and order and peace in Manipur.”
Previously, PM Modi, announced, “Because of the timely intervention of the central government and efforts made by the Manipur government, there has been a marked improvement in the situation of the state” on 8 April.
The documentary encapsulates several issues like the denied re-nomination of R K Ranjan Singh, minister of state for external affairs possibly for his outburst, the forcible release of 12 killers of 18 soldiers of the Dogra regiment by the local mob and emphasized the Hindutva agenda behind the burning of 247 Meitei churches in Imphal valley, during the onset of the Manipur violence on 3 May, 2023.
Till now, more than 60,000 people are displaced and more than 200 have lost their lives in Manipur. While Lok Sabha elections draw near, a pervading silence looms over the fate of Manipur’s 3.3 million people with talks of peaceful reconciliation hanging in the air.