President's Rule must be imposed in Manipur, says Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday alleged that the Manipur violence seemed "pre-planned" and demanded immediate imposition of President's Rule in the state to help restore peace and normalcy.

Congress spokesperson and the party's in-charge for Manipur, Bhakta Charan Das, also demanded compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the next of kin of those killed in the violence and Rs 5 lakh for those whose houses were destroyed.

The injured should be treated immediately and safe space needs to be created for people to return to their homes and neighbourhoods, he told a press conference.

"The BJP government has utterly failed to control the situation (in Manipur). It has been unable to stop violence, unable to stop weapons from being looted or recover them, unable to rescue innocent people and unable to provide facilities to those in relief camps," Das said.

"In this situation, we demand that President's Rule be immediately imposed to stop these incidents (of violence) which are happening even now," he said and alleged that the Centre and state government are not working according to the Constitution.

If there is President's Rule, then there will be more accountability, the Congress leader said.

Das said had law and order been there, this would have not happened. "It seems it (violence) was pre-planned" because no one from the central government is monitoring this issue, he alleged.

"The home minister (Amit Shah) has still not visited Manipur and the prime minister (Narendra Modi) has not even tweeted while appealing for peace," Das said.