IMPHAL, Oct 21: A team of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national leaders comprising of president Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, opposition leader in Lok Sabha, Arun Jaitley, opposition leader in Rajya Sabha including functionaries of BJP Manipur Pradesh met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi and submitted a memorandum today apprising him of the present situation of Manipur.
The team demanded immediate promulgation of President’s Rule in the state until fresh election is held.
In the meeting, Sushma Swaraj urged the Prime Minister to convey the demand to the leaders of all political parties to visit Manipur to take stock of the situation in the state, stated secretary media affairs of BJP Manipur, L Basanta Sharma.
Notably, Manipur BJP unit president Sh Shantikumar Sharma, Vice President, Professor S Tiken and State Secretary Janglet Haokip left Imphal for New Delhi to meet Prime Minister yesterday.
In a memorandum submitted to Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday, BJP Manipur Pradesh stated that the people of Manipur are in a deep crisis. The state Government has miserably failed in tackling this grave situation. The Government of the day is practically absent. The state legislature seems to have become completely dysfunctional.
Corruption has become rampant and people cannot have any of their problems solved without paying a bribe. Recently, by creating a false picture about normalcy in the state, Chief Minister O Ibobi has added insult to the injury, it said.
The state of Manipur is facing a peculiar situation due to the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee’s (SHDDC) agitation by way of blockade of national highways 39 and 37 since August 1. Human rights of the citizens are being violated practically every day. The supply of essential commodities, petroleum products and life-saving drugs is severely affected and black marketers are having a field day.
Approximately, after 20 days of total bandh called by SHDDC, the United Naga council (UNC) started counter blockade in protest against the demand for creation of Sadar Hills district.
As a consequence, the people of Manipur, both in the hills as well as in the valleys are caught in the crossfire and are suffering multiple ways.
Giving the ground realities, the prices of essential commodities and petroleum products and kerosene oil before and after the blockade— prices of LPG has gone up to Rs 1800-2000 per cylinder and for petrol upto Rs 120 per litre.
The central Government seems to have taken a spectator’s role and no efforts seem to be underway for bringing normalcy in the state. “We wonder what exactly the government is waiting for.”
In view of this situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Manipur had submitted a memorandum with about 20,000 signatures from different parts of the state to the President of India through governor of Manipur demanding immediate intervention in the state.