I.N.D.I.A MPs head to Manipur to assess ground situation

A delegation of 20 I.N.D.I.A bloc MPs will visit Manipur on Saturday to assess the ground situation first-hand and then make recommendations to the government and Parliament for a solution to the problems in the violence-hit state.

Ahead of the visit, Congress' deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi called for an inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge into the violence in Manipur.

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The delegation will include Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress, TMC's Sushmita Dev, JMM's Mahua Maji, DMK's Kanimozhi, NCP's Mohammad Faizal, Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, N K Premachandran of RSP and T Thirumavalavan of the VCK.

JD(U) chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Aneel Prasad Hegde (JD-U), CPI's Sandosh Kumar, CPI(M)'s A A Rahim, Samajwadi Party's Javed Ali Khan, IUML's E T Mohammed Basheer, AAP's Sushil Gupta, Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-Uddhav Thackeray), D Ravikumar (DMK) and Phulo Devi Netam (Congress) will also be part of the delegation.

Gogoi said, "The BJP wants to give the picture that everything is fine in Manipur but it is not so with violence continuing. That is why we want that an inquiry should be conducted under a retired Supreme Court judge as to how did the state government fail, how did people got access to weapons in this quantity, what was the administration doing."

"The chief minister (N Biren Singh) himself admits that there are more than 100 FIRs. Why was the administration sleeping for two months. There should be an inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge and all I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) MPs will go to Manipur and find out the truth and will put forward that truth before Parliament," he told PTI outside Parliament.

Trinamool Congress' Dev said the opposition delegation wants to give the message that "we are with the people of Manipur".

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"We are concerned, we want peace to return...the government has failed, so we want to go there and see what solution can be found," she said.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader T R Baalu said the opposition delegation will be leaving for Manipur Saturday morning and will find out what went wrong, the extent of damage and loss of lives and property.

Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Premchandran said the intent of the visit is to have a first-hand information about the happenings in the state.

"The violence is still going on so we would like to have first-hand information and suggest some solutions and recommendations to the government and Parliament before the discussion comes there," he said.

"We would like to visit the relief camps regarding rehabilitation of the victims. What is the real cause of the violence, we want to find out," he said.

The opposition bloc had been demanding that a delegation of their leaders be allowed to visit the state but till now they had been denied permission in view of the situation there.

The opposition has been demanding a statement from the prime minister in Parliament on the situation in ethnic strife-torn Manipur followed by a full-fledged discussion on it.

The northeastern state of Manipur has been engulfed in ethnic violence since May 3, in which more than 160 people have lost their lives.