AIZAWL, 16 Oct: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday charged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was more concerned about happenings in Israel than in Manipur, which has been riven by an ethnic conflict since May this year.
Addressing a rally near Raj Bhavan here after undertaking a 2-km-long padayatra through the city roads, he said that neighbouring Manipur is no longer a unified single state, but has been divided into two states on ethnic lines.
Gandhi, who began a two-day visit to poll-bound Mizoram, also asserted that the Congress ushered in peace in the insurgency-hit northeastern state, with the signing of a peace accord in 1986.
“It is amazing to me that the PM and the Government of India is so interested in what is happening in Israel (Israel-Hamas conflict), but not interested at all in what is happening in Manipur, where people have been murdered, women molested and babies killed,” he said.
“It is something to be ashamed of that the leader of our Union has not travelled to Manipur after what has happened there, and Manipur is the symptom of the problem. You can see the same problem in a smaller form in many different parts of the nation. People from minority communities, tribals and dalits are feeling uncomfortable. There is an oppression being carried out on the people of India,” the former Congress president alleged.
Elections to the 40-member Mizoram assembly will be held in a single phase on November 7, and counting of votes will take place on December 3.
The Congress released a list of 39 candidates for the polls, with the party’s state unit chief Lalsawta fielded from Aizawl West-III (ST). (PTI)
