Manipur Youth Congress protests against BJP, demands release of IYC chief Uday Bhanu Chib

Imphal: The Manipur unit of the Youth Congress on Saturday staged a protest against the alleged "dictatorial rule of the BJP" and demanded the immediate release of Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib and other leaders from jail.

Protesters gathered at Congress Bhavan and attempted to march to the state BJP office, located around a kilometre away, but were stopped at the gate by police personnel, leading to a brief scuffle.

The demonstrators held placards and raised slogans against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They also tried to burn an effigy of the prime minister, which was seized by police, officials said.

The members also held placards and raised slogans such as "BJP down down" and "Narendra Modi is compromised."

State Youth Congress president W Anand Singh told reporters, "Youth Congress has been raising its voice against unemployment, for the protection of constitutional rights and for the poor sections of the country and the state. However, Youth Congress leaders have been imprisoned and threatened, though we are not frightened."

"The BJP is more concerned about the party than the sufferings of the people in Manipur. The BJP has not raised a single voice for the innocent people killed in the state. To protest against such rule, we wanted to burn the effigy of the prime minister in front of the state BJP office," Singh said.

A Delhi court on February 24 sent Chib to four-day police custody in connection with the protest at the India AI Impact Summit.

Judicial Magistrate Ravi allowed four days of custody to the police to question Chib over his role in the AI Summit protest, during which IYC members took their shirts off to reveal anti-Modi and anti-Centre slogans on t-shirts beneath.