New Delhi: A mob of more than 1,000 people attacked Union Minister RK Ranjan Singh’s residence in Manipur last night in the latest spate of violence happening in the state over the last several weeks.
Two tribal groups are going at each other over one group’s demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category, leaving the state in a simmering cauldron of violence despite efforts for peace.
Despite a curfew is in place in Imphal, the mob stormed in the minister's house at Kongba luckily when he was not at home.
One of the nine security personnel alongside five guards on duty at minister’s residence said around 1,200 people emerged, with some of them throwing petrol bombs at the residence from all directions.
‘We couldn't prevent the incident as the mob was overwhelming and we couldn't control the situation. They threw petrol bombs coming in from all directions.. from the bye lane behind the building and from the front entrance. so we simply couldn't control the mob,’ L Dineshwor Singh, Escort Commander was quoted as saying.
The minister's house is targeted for the second time since violence broke out in May when security personnel fired into the air to disperse a crowd.
The state plunged into violence after tribal groups took out a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ on May 3 to protest against the Meitei, the majority community in Manipur, getting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
The eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land also formed the background to the violence with ill-feelings were waiting in to pour in violence.
RK Ranjan Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs and Education, sat with a group of intellectuals from Manipur's Meitei and Kuki communities discussing ways to bring peace to the state.
Afterwards, the minister in a letter to PM Modi blamed “myopic politicians’ for playing up ‘the emotions of the common people’, and added that ‘their tactics trigger unimaginable losses, for instance the present ethnic inferno. Such local leaders must be identified and condemned.’
More than 100 people died since May 3 in clashes between the Meiteis, who live in and around the state capital Imphal valley, and the Kuki tribe, who are settled in the hills.