New Delhi: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to visit Manipur on September 13, the Congress on Tuesday said that though he finally may have summoned up the courage and empathy to visit the northeast state briefly, it may be “too little too late”.
Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh, said the prime minister travelled all over the world and visited Assam and Arunachal Pradesh over the past two-and-a-half years. But he has found neither the time nor the inclination to reach out to the people of Manipur, he said.
The northeastern state witnessed violence for several months since May 3, 2023. It started after the Kuki-Zo tribes living in the hill districts protested against a high court recommendation for granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Meiteis.
At least 260 people were killed and thousands rendered homeless in the ethnic violence between the Imphal valley-based Meities and the adjoining hill-based Kuki-Zo groups.
In a post on X, Ramesh said, “It appears that the prime minister may finally summon up the courage and empathy to visit Manipur briefly on September 13. But that may be a case of TLTL — too little too late.”
“The complete neglect of Manipur by the prime minister, combined with the loud-mouthed incompetence of the Union home minister, has deepened the pain, distress, and agony of all communities of Manipur’s society,” he said in the post.
The Congress leader said Manipur erupted on May 3, 2023, when there was a “so-called double-engine Sarkar”. The BJP and its allies had secured a big mandate in the assembly elections just 15 months earlier, he said.
“But even with this mandate, the so-called double engine sarkar got totally derailed because of its own machinations.”
“Hundreds of people were killed. Thousands were displaced. Tens of thousands have been forced to live in relief camps. Social harmony has been completely destroyed. The environment is one of fear and suspicion. Yet the PM has remained silent,” Ramesh said.
He pointed out that on August 1, 2023, the Supreme Court said there had been an absolute breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the state.
“Yet the prime minister remained silent,” he noted.
Ramesh said the state lurched from one crisis to another, and one tribal woman governor was “sent packing”, and for almost six months the new governor operated from Guwahati.
“The chief minister was encouraged to play his games by his patrons in New Delhi. Finally, just when the INC’s no-confidence motion against the CM was to be taken up in the assembly, President’s Rule was imposed in the state on Feb 13, 2025 – which was extended last month. “President’s Rule has, however, made no marked difference to the daily lives of people,” Ramesh claimed.
He alleged that for 29 months, the prime minister refused to meet with any political leader, party, MLA, MP, or any civil society group from Manipur. “He did not even condole the death of one of India’s greatest cultural icons, Ratan Thiyam, who passed away in Imphal on July 23, 2025,” Ramesh said in his X post.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Mizoram and Manipur on September 13, officials in Aizawl have said. He will first visit Mizoram to inaugurate the new Bairabi-Sairang railway station.
Multiple officials of the Mizoram government said they have received information that from Aizawl, the prime minister will fly to Manipur, his first visit since the ethnic violence broke out in the state in May 2023.
However, they said that they are yet to receive the final itinerary of the prime minister’s visit. Officials in Imphal, however, could not confirm the visit.
Manipur Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel chaired a meeting to review arrangements in connection with the proposed visit of a VVIP to the state, officials said on Tuesday.
The chief secretary told the police to ensure “security arrangements as per blue book” at the function venues of Kangla in Imphal and Peace ground in Churachandpur district, officials said.
Mizoram Chief Secretary Khilli Ram Meena on Monday also convened a meeting with various departments and law enforcement agencies to review preparedness for the prime minister’s visit.
