Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on Monday said that Manipur has been waiting for peace since a year and this issue must be prioritised. Bhagwat stressed the need to get over with election rhetoric and focus on problems facing the nation.
Bhagwat was addressing a gathering of RSS trainees at the concluding programme of organisation’s ‘Karyakarta Vikas Varg- Dwitiya’ at the Dr Hedgewar Smriti Bhavan premises in Reshimbagh in Nagpur.
“Manipur is waiting for peace for the last one year. There was peace in Manipur 10 years ago. It felt like gun culture had finished there. But the state has suddenly seen violence,” he said. “The situation in Manipur will have to be considered with priority. There is need to get over election rhetoric and focus on problems facing the nation,” the RSS chief asserted.
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The RSS chief also said that elections are a process of building consensus and that there is a system in place in Parliament to present both sides. He criticised the practice of attacking each other during election campaigns, the misuse of technology, and the dissemination of false information. Bhagwat suggested that the term “pratipaksh” should be replaced with “virodhi.”
Manipur has been witnessing ethnic clashes between Meiteis, who are in majority in Imphal Valley, and Kuki-Zo communities, who are dominant in few hill districts, since May last year. The violence has so far claimed over 220 lives and uprooted over 50,000.
On Monday, one security personnel sustained injuries when an advance security team of Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh was ambushed by armed militants in Kangpokpi district.
CM Singh was planning to visit Jiribam district on Tuesday in connection with the recent violence occurred in the district after a man was found beheaded on June 6 by unknown miscreants. The incident has led to the burning down of nearly 70 houses, a few government offices and the fleeing of hundreds of people in the area.
