New Delhi: The apex body of 36 civil society organisations in Manipur protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to lead a special yoga session at the UN headquarters in New York and boycotted the International Day of Yoga on Wednesday, June 21.
According to The Telegraph, Romeshwar Waikhwa, president of the Thoubal Apunba Lup, said that the protest was organised because the prime minister held the special yoga session “without considering the suffering of the people of Manipur since May 3”.
“We don’t need yoga in Manipur now. We need peace over yoga now because of the immense suffering of our people,” he said.
Over 300 people participated in the protest, according to The Telegraph, and several people displayed placards that were critical of Modi. The hour-long protest began at 8 am at the Thoubal Melaground, about 20 km from Imphal, according to reports.
Effigies of Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and chief minister N. Biren Singh were burnt, with the protesters criticising them for their failure to control the situation in Manipur.
Prime Minister Modi’s silence on Manipur, where ethnic clashes have killed more than 130 people, has enraged the residents of the state. On Sunday, the prime minister’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme was boycotted and some people even destroyed transistors to protest against Modi’s continued silence.
Waikhwa told The Telegraph that the people of Manipur “wanted the state and central governments to intervene and restore normality”. “The Prime Minister left for the US on Tuesday carrying the message of peace but a corner of India (Manipur) is burning. People are unhappy at his continued silence and the absence of any improvement in the ground situation since May 3,” he said.
The state government did not officially mark the day, in view of violence.