Rahul Gandhi arrives at Imphal for 2-day visit to strife-torn Manipur

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived at Imphal for a two-day visit to strife-torn Manipur on Thursday.

He will leave for Churachandpur district where he will visit relief camps to meet people displaced by ethnic strife that rocked the northeastern state since early last month. Around 50,000 people are now staying in over 300 relief camps across the state since ethnic strife started in May this year.

On Friday, Gandhi is scheduled to visit relief camps in Imphal and hold talks with certain civil society organisations, Congress sources said.

More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state so far. Clashes first broke out 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.