Women from Manipur’s ‘Ima’ market arrive in Delhi, question PM’s silence
The Hindu
As ethnic violence continues in Manipur, 75 ‘Imas’ or ‘mothers’ (elderly women traders) from the famed women-only Khwairamband Ima Keithel market of Imphal on Monday arrived in Delhi, insisting that they would only leave only after the Prime Minister addressed the situation in Manipur and presented a concrete solution.
As ethnic violence continues in Manipur, 75 ‘Imas’ or ‘mothers’ (elderly women traders) from the famed women-only Khwairamband Ima Keithel market of Imphal on June 19 arrived in Delhi, insisting that they would only leave only after the Prime Minister addressed the situation in Manipur and presented a concrete solution.
The women representatives of the Ima Keithal held a press conference at the Press Club of India ahead of their sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar, where security was beefed up significantly, with armed personnel inside the Club premises as well.
The women condemned the “divisive” politics of the government of India and sharply questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Manipur, with one of them saying, “The PM visits sites of disasters, cyclone-hit areas. He even came to Manipur when there were elections. But even after so many days of violence continuing, PM Narendra Modi has not said anything, we have not heard anything about a concrete solution for Manipur. Since the PM has no time to visit Manipur, we have come to Delhi to see him.”
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Shortly after the presser, more than a hundred women, under the banner of the Khwairamband Ima Keithel Joint Coordination Committee for Peace, gathered at Jantar Mantar, where they held up slogans questioning the PM’s silence, seeking a permanent solution and opposing any territorial division of the State on ethnic lines.
The protesters — all Meitei — included traders from the Khwairamband Ima Keithel and 15 other similar marketplaces in and around the Imphal valley.
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