'You can ask but don't argue'; violence in Manipur is racial, says Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah got irritated when questioned about the ongoing Manipur violence and the continuation of Biren Singh as the Chief Minister. When asked why Biren Singh was allowed to continue as CM, Shah retorted, "You can ask questions but don't argue." He added that the violence in Manipur is racial and can only be solved through dialogue between the affected groups, and the central government is in talks with both the Kuki and Meitei groups to find a solution.

Addressing a press conference on the first 100 days of the third term of the PM Modi government, Shah said, "Recently, violence went on for three days, other than that, in the last 3 months, no major incident took place... We are hopeful to bring the situation under control. We are in talks with both the local tribes. Because this is racial violence, there cannot be any solution until there is a dialogue between them... We are speaking to the Kuki groups and the Meitei groups... We have created a roadmap to solve the issue," he said.

Shah said that the main cause of the problem in Manipur is the India-Myanmar border. He added that the central government has started fencing this border and has completed 30 km so far, with CRPF deployed at key points to prevent infiltration.

"We have started the fencing of the root cause of the problem, the India-Myanmar border...30 km of the fencing has been completed. The central government has approved a budget to fence the whole 1500 km border. We have successfully deployed CRPF at strategic locations. To stop the infiltration, we have nullified the agreement between India and Myanmar which allowed the movement of the people, and now entry into India is allowed only by visa," Shah said.