Manipur needs immediate peace, understanding between two communities: CM

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Wednesday said the state, which has been in the grip of ethnic violence since May last year, needs immediate peace and appealed to two communities to reach an understanding.Speaking at a Good Governance Day programme at the state BJP headquarters here, Singh asserted that the saffron party can save the northeastern state as it believes in the idea of living together.What is happening in Manipur today has many reasons.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Wednesday said the state, which has been in the grip of ethnic violence since May last year, needs immediate peace and appealed to two communities to reach an understanding.

Speaking at a Good Governance Day programme at the state BJP headquarters here, Singh asserted that the saffron party can save the northeastern state as it believes in the idea of living together.

''What is happening in Manipur today has many reasons. Today, those who have been trying to divide the state are asking what the government is doing...they are hungry for power,'' Singh said.

The chief minister said several initiatives such as 'Meeyamgi Numit' (People's Day), which aims at bringing the people and officials closer, have been rolled out.

''We are not against any particular community. The stand of the BJP is clear. We believe in the idea of living together. We have already started to build relations between the police and the people,'' he said.

Singh said the state government is working hard to meet the requirements of internally displaced people by making committees at several layers of the administration.

He also claimed that the administration is providing immediate solutions to the displaced people in education and agriculture.

''We have never committed any wrong. We only wanted to save future generations. The two communities need to be calm. Instead of looking at the past, we need to focus on the upcoming NRC process, capturing biometrics and 1961 as the base year of the Inner Line Permit.

''We will continue our work democratically and constitutionally. This will take time. What we need now is immediate peace and reach an understanding between the two communities which have misunderstood each other,'' Singh said.

More than 250 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups in Manipur since May last year.

''Only BJP can save Manipur...BJP leaders have a sense of nationalism and social justice. They do reality-based politics in the interests of the nation....if I am not given a ticket by the BJP, I will remain with the party,'' Singh said.

He also mentioned a few unity-themed projects of the BJP government in the state, and said, ''The Unity Mall will include stalls of all the ethnic groups of the state and will be built at the cost of more than Rs 140 crore''. Good Governance Day is observed on December 25 every year in honour of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary. Singh said, ''Atal Bihari Vajpayee is one of the leaders whose name is known worldwide. He started Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and is known for his vision for the development of the country...During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime, there have been surgical strikes and these show the existence of a nation and the governance.'' ''Atal ji and several others have helped the BJP grow and built an image. We are only following what the elders have taught us. They taught us nationalism and to walk together with the public,'' he said. Singh also said that the border fencing is the work of the Centre and the Union government is taking it seriously as there have been cases of infiltration along the India-Bangladesh boundary.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)