Congress slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday over his proposed September 13 visit to Manipur, the first time since violence broke out in 2023, calling it “too little, too late.”
“It appears that the PM may finally summon up the courage and empathy to visit Manipur briefly on September 13. But that may be a case of TLTL—too little, too late,” Congress general secretary, communications,” Jairam Ramesh said.
He alleged that Manipur erupted on May 3, 2023, under the so-called “double engine sarkar,” despite the BJP and its allies winning a big mandate in the assembly elections just fifteen months earlier.”
“Even with this mandate, the government got totally derailed because of its own machinations,” he said.
“Hundreds of people were killed. Thousands were displaced. Tens of thousands have been forced to live in relief camps. Social harmony has been completely destroyed. The environment is one of fear and suspicion,” he said.
The northeastern state has witnessed violence for several months since May 3, 2023. It started after the Kuki-Zo tribes living in the hill districts protested against a high court recommendation for granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Meiteis, resulting in at least 260 people, mostly Kukis, being killed and thousands rendered homeless in the ethnic violence.
Ramesh reminded that on August 1, 2023, the Supreme Court had said there was an “absolute breakdown of the constitutional machinery in the state.” Yet, he said, “the PM remained silent.”
He also criticized the handling of governance, pointing out that a tribal woman Governor was removed, her successor functioned out of Guwahati for months, and Chief Minister N. Biren Singh was shielded by “patrons in New Delhi.”
Just before the Congress’s no-confidence motion against the CM could be taken up, President’s Rule was imposed on February 13, 2025, later extended, but, Ramesh said, it made “no marked difference to the daily lives of people.”
“For 29 long months, the PM has refused to meet any political leader, MLA, MP, or civil society group from Manipur,” he said, adding that Modi did not even condole the death of Ratan Thiyam, one of India’s greatest cultural icons, who passed away in Imphal on July 23, 2025.
The Congress leader alleged that while the PM travelled across the world and even visited Assam and Arunachal Pradesh during this period, he “found neither the time nor the inclination to reach out to the people of Manipur.”
The neglect, combined with what he described as the “loud-mouthed incompetence” of the union Home minister, has deepened the “pain, distress, and agony of all communities of Manipur’s society.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Mizoram and Manipur on September 13, according to officials in Aizawl. He will first visit Mizoram to inaugurate the new Bairabi-Sairang railway station.
Multiple officials of the Mizoram government said they have received information that from Aizawl, the prime minister will fly to Manipur, his first visit since the ethnic violence broke out in the state in May 2023.
However, they said that they are yet to receive the final itinerary of the prime minister’s visit. Officials in Imphal, however, could not confirm the visit.
Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel chaired a meeting to review arrangements in connection with the proposed visit of a VVIP to the state, officials said on Tuesday.
The chief secretary told the police to ensure “security arrangements as per blue book” at the function venues of Kangla in Imphal and Peace ground in Churachandpur district, officials said.
Mizoram Chief Secretary Khilli Ram Meena on Monday also convened a meeting with various departments and law enforcement agencies to review preparedness for the prime minister’s visit.
