Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not visiting Manipur earlier, holding him responsible for “allowing” the violence in the state to continue. “I am glad that he has decided after 2 years that it’s worth his visiting. He should have visited much long before. It’s very unfortunate that he has allowed what is happening there to happen for so long, so many people to get killed and so many people to go through so much strife before he has decided to visit,” Priyanka Gandhi told reporters in Kerala’s Wayanad.
She added that it has traditionally been the practice of Prime Ministers to visit areas affected by suffering, and said PM Modi is only “fulfilling” that tradition two years after the violence began. “That has not been the tradition of Prime Ministers in India. Right through, no matter which party they were, wherever there was pain, wherever there was suffering, they would go. That has been the tradition since independence. So, he is fulfilling it after 2 years, I think he should have thought of it before,” she said. Earlier in the day,
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also criticised the Prime Minister, describing his upcoming visit as a “pitstop” and a “farce.”
Also Read: ‘Before 2014, Manipur’s Development Rate Was Less Than 1%’ Says PM Modi During His Imphal Visit
