India’s Manipur saw a strike and protests on Sunday, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the restive northeastern state.
PM Modi on Saturday made his first visit to troubled Manipur state since more than 250 people were killed in ethnic clashes there two years ago.
Students at Manipur University staged protests and chanted ‘Go Back Modi’ during the PM’s visit.
Meanwhile, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the peaceful protesters, leaving dozens injured.
Modi’s visit is part of a three-day tour that also includes Assam, which borders Bangladesh, and Bihar, India’s third-most populous state with at least 130 million people.
Bihar is a key electoral battleground ahead of polls slated for October or November, the only state in India’s northern Hindi-speaking heartland where Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has never ruled alone.
It is also India’s poorest, and Modi was set to unveil investments worth $8 billion, a package that includes agricultural projects, rail links, road upgrades and an airport terminal.
Manipur in the northeast has been bitterly divided since May 2023, when violence broke out between the mainly Hindu Meitei majority and the largely Christian Kuki community.
The violence has also displaced tens of thousands of people who are still living in makeshift camps established by the government.
“In order to bring life back on track in Manipur, the government of India is making all possible efforts,” Modi yesterday told a gathering of thousands in Churachandpur, a Kuki-dominated town.
“I promise you today that I’m with you. The government of India is with the people of Manipur,” Modi had said, while also appealing “to all groups to take the path of peace for realising their dreams”.
Modi was also scheduled to address a rally at Imphal, the Meitei-dominated capital of the state.
The premier last visited the state – bordering Myanmar and 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles) from New Delhi – in 2022.
The Hindu nationalist leader inaugurated development projects worth more than $960 million, including five highways and a new police headquarters.
Manipur’s former chief minister, N Biren Singh, from Modi’s BJP, resigned in February after criticism he failed to stop the bloodshed there.
The state of nearly three million people has since been ruled directly from New Delhi.
Tensions between Meiteis and Kukis, rooted in competition for land and government jobs, have long simmered in the region.
Rights groups accuse political leaders of fuelling the divisions for their own gain.
— With additional input from AFP
Protests and strike ‘greet’ PM Modi in Manipur
