- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian home minister Amit Shah on Thursday (4) spoke to the chief minister of the northeastern state of Manipur, N Biren Singh, over the situation following an outbreak of violence during a tribal agitation.
The Narendra Modi government, which is monitoring the situation in Manipur, has also dispatched teams of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) for deployment in violence-hit areas of the state that borders the eastern neighbour of Myanmar.
My state Manipur is burning, kindly help @narendramodi @PMOIndia @AmitShah @rajnathsingh @republic @ndtv @IndiaToday pic.twitter.com/VMdmYMoKqP
— M C Mary Kom OLY (@MangteC) May 3, 2023
The RAF is a specialised force to handle riot-like situations.
According to officials, the chief minister of Manipur briefed Shah about the ground situation and the steps taken to restore peace.
The troops of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles have already been deployed on the ground.
Apart from these two forces, sufficient number of paramilitary forces were also available in Manipur for deployment in violence-hit areas.
Official sources said five companies of the RAF have been airlifted to state capital Imphal while 15 other general duty companies have been asked to be in a state of readiness for deployment to the state.
About 15 companies of the CRPF are already available in Manipur for deployment, the sources said.
Violence broke in some parts of Manipur on Wednesday (3) during the ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ called by All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) in Torbung area of the state’s Churachandpur district to protest the demand of non-tribal Meiteis, who dominate the Imphal Valley, for Scheduled Tribe status.
Thousands of agitators took part in the rally, during which clashes between tribals and non-tribals broke out, a senior police officer said.
Police fired several rounds of tear gas shells to control the situation, the officer said.
MC Mary Kom, an Olympic medal-winning boxer from Manipur, tweeted about the situation in her state and sought help from prime minister Modi, prime minister’s office, Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and some Indian media outlets.
(With PTI inputs)
