Manipur situation was worse during UPA rule, says Assam CM 

Under Congress rule, Manipur experienced long highway blockades, petrol and LPG prices skyrocketed and 991 civilians and security personnel were killed, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claims

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi took more time to react to crises in Manipur more than a decade ago than Prime Minister Narendra Modi now, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma indicated through a series of tweets on Saturday.

Mr. Modi has been criticised for taking 79 days to react to the ethnic violence in Manipur after a video of a mob parading two Kuki women naked and allegedly gang-raping them surfaced a couple of days ago.

Taking to the microblogging site on Saturday, Mr. Sarma slammed Congress for “suddenly displaying immense interest in Manipur” and said it was important to rewind and look at Mr. Singh’s own response to similar crises in the northeastern State.

“The (Congress) party’s duplicity is simply alarming. During UPA’s tenure, Manipur became the blockade capital of the country,” he wrote.

He reminded that during Congress rule from 2010 to 2017, Manipur experienced highway blockades ranging from 30 days to up to 139 days a year. Petrol and LPG prices went up to ₹240 a litre and ₹1,900 per cylinder during each of these blockades, translating into a complete humanitarian crisis, he said.

Manipur saw one of the worst blockades in 2011, lasting more than 120 days. “In 2011, the then Prime Minister and UPA chairperson didn’t even utter a word for those 123 days when Manipur was burning,” he wrote.

Mr. Singh, he added, was busy bailing out private companies at that time.