GUWAHATI
Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh on January 9 said a decision on the Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra would be taken after reviewing reports from the security agencies.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to launch the yatra from Manipur capital Imphal on January 14.
Also read | Manipur-to-Mumbai march, now called Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, will spend more days in U.P.
Mr. Singh told journalists in Imphal that the security scenario in the State continued to be critical. “The granting of permission for Rahul Gandhi’s rally is under active consideration. We are reviewing the reports of various security agencies,” he said.
The yatra entails traversing through parts of Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat before concluding in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The Congress said the government had no justification for not allowing the rally as it was not political in nature. “We are yet to receive the permission for the yatra despite giving an application to the Centre for approval. Our Manipur unit also applied to the (State’s) Chief Secretary for permission a week ago but they are telling us they cannot give the sanction and that our application has been sent to Delhi for approval,” Congress general secretary, K.C. Venugopal said in Guwahati after returning from Imphal.
He said the Congress chose to start the march from Manipur in a bid to heal the wounds of the people affected by the ethnic violence since May 3, 2023. Close to 200 people have been killed and some 60,000 more displaced by the conflict.
“Rahul Gandhi conducted a yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir by walking 4,000 km. We raised the issue of unemployment and price rise. Through this yatra, we are focusing on the common man’s issues, including the huge unemployment problem,” Mr. Venugopal said.
“We do not want to politicise the Manipur issue at all. We need to feel the pulse of the people and give a message that we are with the people of Manipur. That is why we decided to start the yatra from the State,” he said.
He said the Centre and the Manipur government failed to understand the idea behind the yatra, alleging that the BJP did not believe in democratic processions.
