![Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury](http://media.assettype.com/metrovaartha-en%2F2023-07%2Fac777028-e0d2-47e3-987c-34a707335bc1%2FAChaudhary.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
Imphal | Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said here on Saturday that the ethnic conflict in Manipur was sullying India's image, and all parties must try and find a peaceful solution to end it.
A delegation of 21 MPs from the opposition bloc INDIA reached Imphal earlier in the day to assess the ground situation in the ethnic strife-torn state.
The team of opposition MPs would visit several relief camps to meet victims of the ethnic clashes during their two-day visit beginning Saturday.
"We have come here to meet victims of ethnic clashes and understand the problem. We want the end of violence and the restoration of peace at the earliest...the entire world is watching what is going on in Manipur," Chowdhury told PTI.
He also said, "The ethnic clashes have damaged the image of Manipur, the northeast region and India as a whole. We all have to try for a peaceful solution. We are here not to do any politics." The MPs reached Imphal by a commercial flight from Delhi.
After their arrival here, the delegation went to Churachandpur, where fresh violence has taken place, to meet victims from the Kuki community in the relief camps there.
"From Imphal, they took a chopper to Churachandpur due to security issues. As only one helicopter is available, the members of the delegation were divided into two teams, and the chopper would make two trips to ferry them," a security official told PTI.
One team, comprising Chowdhury, the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, and others, departed for Churachandpur first to visit the relief camp set up at the Boys Hostel of Churachandpur College.
Another team, comprising Congress' deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and others, went to visit a relief camp at Don Bosco School in Churachandpur, a source in the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) said.
Asked about the BJP's allegations of politicisation of the Manipur issue, Gogoi said, "We would have been very happy to be a part of an all-party delegation led by the prime minister. But he is completely missing from the scene. He has not uttered a single word about Manipur in Parliament." "The NDA is completely missing from the scene, but INDIA is present. INDIA stands with the people of Manipur. We will do everything possible to bring peace to the state," he told PTI.
Congress MP from Kerala, K Suresh, who is also part of the delegation, alleged that the Centre and the Manipur government have "badly handled" the situation.
"We have come here to assess the ground situation and meet victims of violence. After we return to Delhi, we will raise various issues, based on our observations here, in Parliament and will seek the Centre's attention on such issues," he told PTI.
The Congress MP also alleged that the BJP is "indulging in polarisation and has supported" one of the two warring communities.
"It is a problem created by the BJP to secure its political future in the state. The BJP has been trying to divide people on the basis of caste, religion and language," he claimed.
After returning to Imphal, the team led by Chowdhury would go to a relief camp at Moirang College in Bishnupur district by road to meet victims from the Meitei community, the source in the MPCC said.
The other team of opposition MPs will go to the Ideal Girl's College relief camp at Akampat in Imphal East district and will visit another camp at Lamboikhongangkhong in Imphal West.
On Sunday morning, the delegation of opposition MPs will meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey at Raj Bhawan here to discuss the ongoing situation and possible measures to bring peace in Manipur at the earliest, the MPCC official said.
The team is scheduled to return to the national capital on Sunday afternoon.
Ahead of the visit, Gogoi had, in Delhi, called for an inquiry led by a retired Supreme Court judge into the ongoing ethnic clashes between the two communities in Manipur.
Besides Chowdhury and Gogoi, the delegation will include TMC's Sushmita Dev, JMM's Mahua Maji, DMK's Kanimozhi, Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, N K Premachandran of RSP, JD(U) chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Aneel Prasad Hegde (JD-U), CPI's P Sandosh Kumar and CPI(M)'s A A Rahim among others.
"The people in this beautiful state are suffering for the last three months and nobody from the government has come to listen to their grievances other than the opposition leaders. Today we have come here not to say anything, but only to listen to them. We feel their pain and that's why we are here," RJD's Manoj Kumar Jha told PTI.
DMK's Kanimozhi said the MPs from the opposition bloc INDIA would hear the people's voices from both communities.
"They are in distress and the central government has failed to resolve their problem. With the findings from our visit to the relief camps, we will meet the governor tomorrow morning and discuss the issues. We will then take our findings to Delhi and decide our future strategies accordingly," the DMK leader said.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray Faction) Arvind Sawant) MP Arvind Sawant accused the PM of being silent on the Manipur issue in Parliament.
"We want him to speak in Parliament, but not a single word has been said by him," he alleged.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur alleged that the visit of members of the opposition bloc INDIA to Manipur was a "mere show-off".
After arriving at Kolkata on Saturday morning, the senior BJP leader alleged that when Manipur used to burn under previous governments, those visiting the northeastern state now did not utter a single word in Parliament then.
"When Manipur used to remain shut for months, they had not spoken a word," he said.
Thakur said that when the delegation returns from Manipur, the members of the team "will not allow Parliament to function".
More than 160 people lost their lives and many people were injured since ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.