- Thursday, April 24, 2025
Manipur has seen continued violence since May 3 and at least 110 lives have been lost so far. More than 55,000 people have been displaced.
By: Shubham Ghosh
WITH SEVERAL opposition parties questioning prime minister Narendra Modi on his silence over the ongoing violence in the northeastern state of Manipur, some residents in the state on Sunday (18) came up with a strong reaction by boycotting ‘Mann Ki Baat’ (Inner Thoughts), a monthly radio programme of the prime minister, and breaking transistor sets in marketplaces, The Telegraph, India, reported.
Manipur has seen continued violence since May 3 and at least 110 lives have been lost so far. More than 55,000 people have been displaced. The state has witnessed periodic revival of clashes despite Indian home minister Amit Shah visiting it earlier in June.
According to the report, the protests were held at Singjamei market area in Imphal West district and Kackching market in Kackching district, around 48 kilometres apart, during the broadcast of the programme’s 102nd episode. While Modi referred to the Emergency of the 1970s and said India is the mother of democracy, he did not mention about the Manipur crisis that completed 50 days on Monday (19).
At Singjamei, women were seen lining up and raising slogans against Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which is also in power in the state. They held posters saying “I oppose Mann Ki Baat”; “Shame Mr Modi. Not a single word of Manipur at Mann Ki Baat”; “No to Mann Ki Baat, Yes To Manipur Ki Baat” and “Mr PM Modi, No More Drama at Mann Ki Baat”.
People smashed transistor sets on the road and stomped on them, venting frustration against the prime minister and the ruling party. At Kakching market, people set four to five transistor sets on fire in public, raising slogans against the Modi government.
A man smashed a transistor set in the middle of the road. A lady followed suit. Then two men and a woman protester stomped the two broken transistor sets to smithereens, conveying their “anger” against Modi and the ruling BJP, a resident said.
Binalakshmi Nepram, convener of the Northeast India Women Initiative for Peace and founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, told The Telegraph in a text message: “Mann ki Baat has become Maun ki Baat as far as Manipur is concerned”.
“ With over a hundred killed in the past five weeks and thousands whose homes have been burnt, the silence of the Prime Minister has deeply hurt the people of Manipur and Northeast India.”
She added, “The question is ‘why is the PM, known for his proactive Northeast India policy, suddenly quiet? …’Who is silencing the PM’ is what the whole country, not just Manipuris, must ask.”
The protest took place a day after Jairam Ramesh, a senior leader of the opposition Indian National Congress said in a press conference in New Delhi that 10 opposition parties sought an appointment with the prime minister to discuss the Manipur issue and hoped that Modi would meet them before leaving for the US on a state visit on Tuesday (20).
