Rahul Gandhi, the senior Congress leader, arrived in Manipur’s Moirang on Friday to meet with people affected by ethnic clashes in the northeastern state.
Gandhi arrived in Moirang around 9.30 a.m. by helicopter from Imphal, where he met with a number of affected people in two relief camps and listened to their plight. Former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh, and former MP Ajay Kumar accompanied him.
“It’s heartbreaking to see and listen to the plight of those who have lost loved ones and homes due to the violence in Manipur,” Gandhi said on Friday in an Instagram post.
“There is a cry for help in the face of every brother, sister and child I meet.”
“The most important thing Manipur needs now is Peace – to secure the lives and livelihoods of our people. All our efforts must unite towards that goal,” he added.
Moirang is famous for being the town where the Indian National Army hoisted the Indian tricolor in 1944.
On the second day of his two-day visit to strife-torn Manipur, Gandhi will also meet with leaders of ten like-minded political parties and members of civil society.
“Rahul Gandhi will meet all the affected families and visit the relief camps in Moirang. After that, he will be back in Imphal. At Imphal Hotel he will meet civil society organisation leaders, United Naga Council’s leaders, 10 like-minded political parties and women leaders. He is here only for peace,” Manipur PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh said.