Congress condemned the police action against the students in Manipur, who were protesting against killing of two students, Phijam Hemjit and Hijam Linthoingambi, whose photographs surfaced recently after they were killed during the ongoing ethnic violence in the state.

The party has also expressed condolences and solidarity with the families of the two slain students and demanded that their killers be brought to justice with exemplary punishment.

Condemning the killings, Congress President Mr Mallikarjun Kharge today said, it was high time that Manipur Chief Minister be sacked.

“For 147 days, people of Manipur are suffering, but PM Modi does not have time to visit the state”, Mr Kharge wrote on the X (earlier Twitter), adding, “the horrific images of students being targeted in this violence has once again shocked the entire nation”.

He observed, it is now apparent that violence against women and children was weaponised in this strife. “The beautiful state of Manipur has been turned into a battlefield, all because of the BJP!”, he remarked.

Mr Kharge demanded, it is “high time, PM Modi sacks BJP”s incompetent Manipur Chief Minister. This would be the first step to control any further turmoil”.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here today, Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha, Mr Gaurav Gogoi asked the Prime Minister Narender Modi as how long will it take him to awake up to the crisis in the troubled state.

Mr Gogoi condemned the Prime Minister for showing his back to the people of Manipur and the country.

He pointed out even after lapse of five months, the PM had not bothered to visit Manipur. So much so, he added, the PM does not seem to have even spoken to the Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh on the matter as the media reports suggest that the CM has been interacting and communicating with the union Home Minister only.

The Congress leader said, it has been the collective failure of both the union home minister and the Manipur chief minister as they have failed to restore peace in the state. He asked the Prime Minister to step in and take the responsibility. He demanded that the Manipur CM should be removed before anything else as he had completely failed.

However, the Manipur Police today said the joint security forces repelled a crowd by firing tear gas shells after an “unruly crowd” tried to attack the house of a political leader. The state police also said the crowd targeted a police gypsy and burnt it, “while assaulting a policeman and snatched his weapon”.

There were several protests and rallies in connection with the viral photos of dead bodies of two missing students in the state.

A group of CBI officials, under the leadership of the agency’s Special Director, Ajay Bhatnagar, has arrived in Manipur today to initiate an investigation into the incident that has stirred unrest in the Imphal valley. This has resulted in two days of intense protests by students and young people in the state capital, leading to over 60 individuals sustaining injuries.

The police said they have been employing minimum force to control the protesters.

“Miscreants in crowd used iron pieces and stones (marbles) against security forces. In retaliation security forces used minimum force to disperse the congregation and fired some tear gas shells in which some people got injured,” the Manipur Police said in a statement.

“Manipur Police condemns such action and will take stern steps to deal with such miscreants. Combing operations are being carried out for recovery of arms and catching miscreants,” it added.