Imphal/ Churachandpur: Several organisations representing the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s likely visit to the state on September 13, but opposed a planned dance programme as part of a ceremony to welcome him.
The Imphal Hmar Displaced Committee claimed that the PM should interact with those affected in the ethnic violence instead of participating in the welcome ceremony.
Gangte Students Organisation in Churachandpur district said it would welcome the PM’s likely visit, but “we can’t dance with tears in our eyes!”
“Our mourning is not yet over, our tears are not yet dried, our wounds are not yet healed, we cannot dance with joy,” the Imphal Hmar Displaced Committee said in a statement.
Instead of taking part in a grand welcome ceremony, the PM should interact with the displaced people who are lodged at relief camps, it said.
The Churachandpur-based students’ organisation, however, claimed that the PM’s presence would help the ethnic violence-hit people heal their wounds and express grievances. Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the Kuki community, stressed that the prime minister should be welcomed in the state, but the visit must also “serve justice and recognition of the Kuki-Zo people’s collective aspirations”.