Modi breaks long silence on Manipur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Rajya Sabha, in his first remarks in many months on Manipur, that many steps have been taken to improve the situation in the state and efforts are still on to restore normalcy. He had avoided any mention of Manipur for a long time. The President’s address to the joint session of Parliament also did not mention Manipur. It was perhaps the pressure from Parliament and other stakeholders, including critical comments by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, that forced the Prime Minister to speak about the situation in the state. Modi expressed satisfaction with the decline in violence in the state, but the situation on the ground is different from the picture he sought to portray. Bimol Akoijam, MP from Inner Manipur, gave a vivid picture of it in his speech in Parliament.