Alleging that the Congress was responsible for the mushrooming of militancy in Manipur and in other North-Eastern states, Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kiren Rijiju said, “Congress is unnecessarily targeting Centre over the disturbances in Manipur and North-Eastern states as it did not pay enough attention there during its rule. It led to the rise of many militant groups in the region.” Rijiju was interacting with mediapersons at Hotel Tuli Imperial on Friday at Nagpur. “The recent violence in Manipur was not the first such incident that happened in the State. Hundreds of lives were lost in ethnic clashes in the past, but the Congress government at the Centre never paid attention. It was the outcome of the policies framed by the previous governments at the Centre,” pointed out Rijiju, the Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs Minister. According to Rijiju, Congress should be blamed for the mismanagement in North-Eastern states. “In the last 10 years, more than 10,000 militants surrendered by laying down their weapons, and came into the mainstream in the north-east. The incidents that happened in Manipur were not against the Indian Government.

 

When the incidents of violence took place this time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stayed there for four days and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort that the entire country was with the people of Manipur,” Rijiju explained. “One should not go by the perception being created to defame India with the help of Maoists and foreign powers. Normalcy is returning to Manipur slowly and efforts are being made to end the age-old rivalry and differences between the two communities.

 

This cannot be finished by the Army or by the use of guns. It is not the right method as it could further escalate the matter,” Rijiju elaborated. Terming the opposition leadership in the form of Rahul Gandhi as a curse to the country, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju alleged, “A person who criticises Government on the issue of Constitution has no right to speak about this holy book as he has neither read it nor understood its spirit. I would call it improper if Rahul Gandhi even touches the Constitution. I am unfortunate that being a Minister, I have to deal with him because he is Leader of Opposition (LoP).” Rijiju remarked, “The Opposition misled people by running wrong narrative that Bharatiya Janata Party would change Constitution. Why should we change? In fact, when Modi took charge of Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had taken out the Samvidhan Yatra.

 

It was during his tenure as Prime Minister that Government took the decision of celebrating November 26 as Samvidhan Divas. It is Congress that offended the leader like Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Dr Ambedkar became the first Law Minister of Independent India but had to resign due to his differences with the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Congress never tried to give special identity to Dr Ambedkar but BJP did. Now, the same Congress is trying to set a narrative that in BJP’s rule, Constitution would be in danger.” “People from my own SC/ST and Buddhist community welcome and praise Rahul Gandhi. Shame on those who do this. You should feel ashamed for doing this and this should not happen,” Rijiju criticised. Ex-MLA Dr Milind Mane, BJP State Vice President Adv Dharmpal Meshram, City President Bunty Kukde, General Secretary Sandip Gavai, ex-member of National Commission for SC/ST Subhash Pardhi, State spokesperson of BJP Chandan Goswami were present during media interaction. Earlier Rijiju came by special flight from Delhi. He reached Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur at 8.30 in the morning of Friday. He visited Deekshabhoomi, where he paid respects to Bhagwan Gautam Buddha and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.