'Manipur is still burning', says Gaurav Gogoi, asking why the inquiry report keeps slipping

Three years after ethnic violence broke out in Manipur, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said on Saturday that the state is no closer to healing.

“Three years on, Manipur is still burning,” Gogoi, who is also the Assam Congress president, wrote on X. “The wounds of May 2023 remain unhealed.”

He pointed to fresh tension between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities and to violence between Kuki and Naga groups. By his count, more than 300 people have died since May 2023, about 24,000 are still in relief camps, and more than 40 killings have been reported in Kuki-Naga clashes since February.

Gogoi aimed several questions at the Centre. “Why has the Judicial Commission of Inquiry’s report been repeatedly delayed?” he asked. He raised the findings of the Supreme Court-appointed Gita Mittal Committee on humanitarian and rehabilitation concerns, including deaths in relief camps. He also asked what had become of the peace committee that Home Minister Amit Shah announced in June 2023, and why there was still no date for the all-party meeting sought by the INDIA bloc.

“Three years on, the people of Manipur deserve answers, not silence and delays,” he wrote.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had raised the same theme on Wednesday after four civilians were killed in the latest violence. “Who will take responsibility for this monumental failure of governance?” he asked.

This week the Native People’s Committee Manipur called a 48-hour statewide shutdown after an attack in the Khongbal Tangkhul area killed three Meitei people. Shops, banks, schools and most transport stopped across hill and valley districts, with health and essential services exempted.

The Union government had not responded to Gogoi by Saturday afternoon.