Former Manipur chief minister O Ibobi has expressed disappointment over the all-party meeting called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Saturday in regards to the violence in Manipur, stating that he was barely given much time to share his views despite the fact that he was the only from Manipur in the meeting.
Addressing the press at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in New Delhi after the meeting, the Congress leader said that the Home Ministry organised an all-party meeting on Saturday after over 50 days of violence in the state of Manipur and that he was nominated by the AICC to attend the meeting.
However, despite attending the meeting, the former CM termed it ‘unfortunate’ that he was barely given time to share his views on the violence in Manipur despite him being the only one from the state present at the meeting.
“It is most unfortunate on my part.. they are not giving much time. I know I cannot take much time.. even then.. it maybe just 7-8 minutes maximum.. more than that, they are not giving,” he said.
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Ibobi continued that while addressing the meeting for a few minutes, he suggested that the meeting would be better if PM Modi had attended and even questioned why the prime minister had not uttered a word or even a tweet on the crisis in Manipur.
"Though Manipur is a small state, it has an international boundary with Myanmar and we thought that we are protecting our boundary. And today, it has been more than 50 days since Manipur started burning, but why is PM Modi silent, not a single word nor a single tweet," Ibobi stated at the meeting.
He even stated that Modi is the prime minister for the whole of India during the meeting but he was told to stop his speech and was denied extra few minutes even after stating that he was the only one in the meeting from the state of Manipur, the former CM said.
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In view of the prevailing situation in the state, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had called for an all-party meeting on Saturday in New Delhi.
Others present at the meeting included BJP president J P Nadda, Derek O'Brien (TMC), Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Singh (NPP), M Thambi Durai (AIADMK), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Pinaki Misra (BJD), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Manoj Jha (RJD) and Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena).
