Kharge slams PM Modi's 'pit stop' visit to Manipur, calls it tokenism

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to Manipur, calling it a “pit stop” that amounts to tokenism and a “grave insult” to those affected by the state’s continuing ethnic violence.

In a post on X, Kharge accused the Prime Minister of failing to visit Manipur for over two years despite 864 days of violence that, he said, claimed nearly 300 lives, displaced 67,000 people and left over 1,500 injured.

“Your so-called roadshow in Imphal and Churachandpur today is nothing but a cowardly escape from hearing the cries of people in relief camps,” he wrote.

Kharge also alleged that Modi had made 46 foreign trips during this period but “not a single visit to share two words of sympathy with your own citizens.”

The Congress chief accused Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of “gross incompetence and complicity” in mishandling the crisis, saying that President’s Rule was imposed to shield the government from scrutiny even as violence continued.

Calling the visit a “hush-hush pit stop,” Kharge said it was not an act of repentance but a “grand welcome ceremony for yourself” and a “cruel prick to the wounds” of those till suffering. “This hush-hush pit stop isn’t repentance. It’s not even guilt,” he added.

"Where is your rajdharma?” Kharge asked, invoking former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 2002 remark to Modi, then Gujarat chief minister – a phrase that has since been interpreted as a call for leaders to rise above politics and uphold constitutional duty during crises.

PM Modi’s trip marks his first visit to the state since the outbreak of ethnic clashes in May 2023 that left more than 200 people dead. Manipur Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel said the Prime Minister will land in Churachandpur, one of the worst-hit districts, to meet internally displaced persons and lay the foundation for development projects worth over Rs 7,300 crore.

The visit comes days after fresh clashes in Churachandpur, where miscreants vandalised decorations prepared for the event.

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