‘Manipur continues to burn’: Congress blames BJP for prolonged ethnic crisis
Congress leaders reviewed Manipur's ethnic crisis and election preparations at a high-level meeting. Fresh unrest has sharpened the party's attack on the BJP over law and order.
- Nov 02, 2026,
- Updated Nov 02, 2026, 3:32 PM IST
- Kharge met senior state leaders to review election preparations and unrest
- Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal attended the Congress meeting
- Protesters blocked Kangpokpi roads after two mutilated bodies were recovered
The Congress on Monday, November 2, accused the BJP of failing to contain the prolonged crisis in Manipur, alleging that the ruling party's "callous indifference" and "gross incompetence" had pushed the strategically important border state into further instability.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge levelled the allegations after a meeting with senior leaders of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, where the party discussed the deteriorating situation in the state and its preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections.
The meeting was attended by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, AICC in-charge of Manipur Saptagiri Ulaka, former chief minister and Manipur Congress president Ibobi Singh, and Congress Legislature Party leader K Meghachandra, among others.
In a post on X, Kharge alleged that the BJP leadership had failed to take responsibility for the deterioration in law and order and had avoided accountability as the crisis deepened.
He said the people of Manipur deserved peace, stability, dignity and justice, adding that the Congress would work towards ending BJP rule in the state and restoring peace, reconciliation and development through the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Venugopal also targeted the BJP, claiming that the anger witnessed at the INDIA bloc's rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday reflected a wider anti-incumbency sentiment in BJP-ruled states, including Manipur and Uttarakhand.
"Hatred, loot, land-grab and total misgovernance symbolise BJP's trouble engine model in these states," he said in a post on X.
Referring to the continuing ethnic tensions, Venugopal said Manipur was still suffering from the conflict and claimed that voters had rejected the BJP in both Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2024 general elections.
His remarks came amid fresh unrest in parts of the state. Protests broke out in several areas of Kangpokpi district on Sunday night, with demonstrators burning tyres and blocking roads using logs and boulders. Police later cleared some of the blocked stretches.
The unrest followed the recovery of the mutilated bodies of two youths who had recently gone missing. Their bodies were found in a hilly area of Senapati district on Sunday morning, officials said.
More than 50 people have been killed and dozens of houses burnt across Tamenglong, Noney, Kamjong, Ukhrul and Kangpokpi districts since clashes between Kuki and Naga communities broke out in February this year.
The latest violence comes against the backdrop of the larger ethnic conflict between the Meitei community, concentrated in the Imphal Valley, and the Kuki community, predominantly based in the adjoining hill districts.
That conflict, which erupted in May 2023, left more than 300 people dead, 49 missing, and thousands displaced.
With Assembly elections expected early next year, the Congress has sought to make the continuing law and order crisis a key issue in its challenge to the BJP in Manipur.
