New Delhi: A letter recently written by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Manipur unit to party president J.P. Nadda has come into national focus for seeking his intervention to “revoke Article 355” from the violence-hit northeastern state, and also to clarify “if there is anything (Article 355) as such in the state”. The letter also asks that chief minister N. Biren Singh be restored the command of the Unified Command as “public anger and protest” is being directed at the state government run by the BJP.
However, what needs highlighting is that the state unit had also requested Nadda “to persuade” Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to give an appointment to the joint MLAs’ team who are now holding up in New Delhi for the sake of the people of Manipur.”
The request for the appointment in the letter signed by six top organisational post holders of the BJP state unit including president A. Sharda Devi is significant considering Modi has not only refused to directly address the five-months-long violence and ethnic unrest in the state ruled by his party in spite of the affected people’s appeal for it, but has also thus far not given an audience even to his party’s legislators to hear them out.
At various times since the violence unfolded in the state since on May 3, MLAs from Manipur – both from the Opposition and the ruling party – have sought appointments with the prime minister to have an audience on the crisis. In June, as reported by The Wire, at least three such delegations were camping in New Delhi seeking his time to apprise him of the unprecedented violence being faced by the residents of the state, leading to death and injury of several hundreds and loss of thousands of properties, as their elected representatives.
In mid-September, a delegation of 18 BJP MLAs from the state had been camping in the capital for about two weeks to meet various central leaders to help speed up the peace efforts in the state. The delegation included senior party leaders like Yumnam Khemchand and Biswajit Singh. They were keen to have an audience with the prime minister too since there has been strong discontent within the public in Manipur for the silence being maintained by the prime minister. Modi spoke only once thus far in reference to a horrific video of sexual assault of two women from the state by a mob but not without citing examples from some opposition ruled states for lack of safety for women.
The state unit’s letter, published in various news reports on September 30, was to seek Nadda’s intervention to ensure an appointment of the delegation with the prime minister. A state unit office bearer confirmed to The Wire today that the delegation failed to meet the prime minister.
