In a rally held here on Monday, a group affiliated with West Bengal’s governing TMC denounced the violence in Manipur and laid responsibility for the ethnic strife on the BJP-led governments in both the northeastern state and the federal government.
Trinamool Jai Hind Bahini, a sociopolitical organization founded by TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, organized the protest event. The organization’s activists marched for around 5 kilometres in the southern part of the city, starting at Hazra crossing and ending at Rabindra Sadan.
Firhad Hakim, a state minister and prominent member of the TMC, was spotted marching in the demonstration along with a number of other officials. “Both the state and federal BJP administrations are to blame for the continuing turmoil in Manipur. The BJP is attempting to sabotage interreligious and interethnic peace. It need to apologize in front of the people of this country and feel guilty for engaging in such polarizing politics, according to Hakim.
The Trinamool Congress has been claiming that the ethnic unrest in the northeastern state was caused by the “divisive” policies of the BJP-led administrations in Manipur and at the federal level. The TMC members screamed insults at the BJP while holding up signs and banners in their hands.
Samik Bhattacharya, a BJP state spokesman, responded to the demonstration by stating that the TMC should first organize a rally against the “ongoing atrocities on women” in the state. To deflect attention, they are holding protests against the bloodshed in Manipur. Why do they not speak out about West Bengal’s crimes against women? Given the state’s total breakdown of law and order, it is a common occurrence in Bengal, he said.
After a May 4 video that showed two women from one of the state’s warring factions being paraded nude by a crowd from the other side leaked last week, tension increased in the hills of Manipur. Six persons have been detained by the Manipur Police thus far in relation to the event.
Since May 3, when a “Tribal Solidarity March” was organized in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s quest for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, more than 160 people have died and several more have been wounded as a result of ethnic violence across the state.
The majority of Meiteis, who make up around 53% of Manipur’s population, reside in the Imphal Valley. Another 40% of the population is made up of the Naga and Kuki tribes, who live in the hill areas.
