Inner Manipur MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam and Outer Manipur MP Alfred Kangam Arthur in the Lok Sabha. (image/Sansad TV)
New Delhi: The discussion on the Manipur budget for 2025-26 was dominated by one specific issue: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s failure to visit the violence-torn state as opposition leaders questioned the central government’s approach towards the crisis.
Calling it “anti-people,” the Manipur MPs slammed the state budget for failing to address the nearly 60,000 people who had been displaced by the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur. Opposition leaders highlighted that the budget did not reflect the ground reality of Manipur, failing to account for separate sections for the hills and the valley.
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Outer Manipur MP Alfred Kangam Arthur observed that the fund allocations for social welfare schemes, including MGNREGA, have not been disbursed since 2023.
“This budget is anti-people because you don’t talk of the 60,000 that have been displaced. All of their homes broken, damaged. There is no reflection in the budget for the displaced. The damage that has been done by separate entities has crossed Rs 20,000 crore. I don’t see anything in the budget that is even worth that. My state is a small state, but we are not small people. We are equal in this country,” Arthur stated.
Inner Manipur MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam stated that if such a crisis had happened in Bihar and UP, the exclusion would have been felt in the budget.
The Manipur MP slammed PM Modi for not visiting the state once since violence was unleashed in 2023.
“He [PM Modi] may go to Ukraine and talk about peace when his own citizens have been slaughtered and more than 60,000 people have been rendered homeless—this kind of behaviour cannot be justified by anybody who swears by nationalism,” Akoijam said.
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Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saayoni Ghosh pointed out that PM Modi had made 40 international and 240 domestic trips since his last visit to Manipur in 2022, before violence erupted in the state. Ghosh also noted that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had visited the state only once.
“The finance minister and the BJP party president have not visited. There’s a saying that ‘Nero fiddled as Rome burned’,” she added.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi stated that Home Minister Amit Shah should take the moral responsibility for the imposition of the president’s rule in Manipur. “I want the home minister to take responsibility and the prime minister to visit the state. Peace will not come to the northeast and Manipur at gunpoint,” he said.
Four days after Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s resignation, BJP failed to find a consensus CM candidate. President Droupadi Murmu issued a proclamation under Article 356 of the Constitution, following a report from Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla. Manipur is currently under the President’s Rule.
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Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress and the UPA government for its “misgovernance” in the state during the 1993 clash between the Kuki and Naga communities that killed 750 people.
“Will they first apologise for that? The fault line of misgovernance should be kept in mind. In 1997-98 there were further clashes during the tenure of I.K. Gujral. Did he visit Manipur?” she added.
Tensions escalated in May 2023 over the Meitei demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, triggering violent clashes between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo community that have claimed over 250 lives with over 60,000 displaced. Meiteis account for 53 percent of the population, while tribals, including the Nagas and Kukis, constitute slightly over 40 percent.
