On the campaign trail for elections in Mizoram where the ongoing crisis in neighbouring Manipur, which has a BJP government, has become central to the discourse, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the ethnic violence has ‘not been done by any political party’.
The state legislative assembly election in Mizoram, where polling will take place on November 7, is taking place under the shadow of the Manipur crisis, where the Kuki-Zomi community – which shares a common ethnicity with the Mizos – is in conflict with the Meitei community. There has been a massive outpouring of support from the Mizo public, and the state has so far sheltered more than 12,000 displaced people from the community.
Speaking at a public rally in Mizoram’s Siaha, Singh sought to distance the BJP from the violence. ‘In the last nine years, the Northeast has been very peaceful. Insurgency has stopped in every state or has become very less. But the violence that has happened in Manipur this time has pained all of us very much. But I want to honestly say that this violence has not been done by any political party… Such a situation was born between both the communities in Manipur, an insecurity was born, because of which the violence happened,’ said Singh.
‘To end it, I want to request both the communities that they sit together and resolve this problem. The trust deficit in Manipur which has been born in both the communities, they should end that trust deficit. I would like to appeal to all the people of Manipur that violence is not the solution of any problem, a solution needs heart to heart conversation,’ he said.
Singh has not been to Manipur since the conflict broke out on May 3.
In Manipur, the Kuki-Zomi community has been demanding a separate administration, stating that it has no faith in the N Biren Singh-led government. Homes of several prominent BJP leaders, including Union Minister of State Rajkumar Singh and state BJP president A Sharda Devi, have also been attacked in the Meitei-dominated valley.
Both the Congress and the Mizo National Front are relying on the fallout of the Manipur crisis to swap public support in their favour. While the MNF is hoping that a surge in Mizo nationalism in the wake of the crisis and the party’s support to refugees will benefit it, the Congress has been attacking the BJP, stating that the Manipur crisis illustrates the threat that the party poses to Mizo society.
‘When Manipur was disturbed, the Congress tried to do politics over this. Though we had told their political leaders not to go at that time, they still went. I believe that the people’s wounds will only heal if they are kept away from politics. I want to tell the people of the entire country to keep themselves away from Congress’s negative and disruptive politics,’ Singh said.
On Wednesday, Singh spoke both at Siaha and at Mamit, where Prime Minister Modi was supposed to address a rally on October 30. These are both areas with a sizeable minority community population and are focus areas for the BJP through which it is seeking to make its presence felt in the Christian majority state where it has a small presence. Modi’s visit to the state was cancelled, a development the Congress had also linked to the situation in Manipur.
