After turning his back on the state for more than 123 weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally visited Manipur on September 13. That he chose to visit the Peace Ground at Churachandpur and Kangla Fort in Imphal to address two communities separated and bruised by over two years of violence is symbolic and sends the right political optics. Befitting one of the most anticipated visits in recent memory, Modi unveiled 19 development projects worth over Rs 7,300 crore for the state in Churachandpur. These development projects, PM Modi claimed, would be instrumental in easing life, strengthening the infrastructure, digital access, education, and healthcare in the state.

The fact that the Prime Minister weathered the heavy downpour to visit Churachandpur by road demonstrated his political resolve. However, his overemphasis on development and the conspicuous failure to lay down a political roadmap for resolving the over two years of violence in Manipur is being seen as a wasted opportunity across the divide. In that sense, there seems to be a certain absentmindedness about the trauma of families who have lost their loved ones and an underplaying of the suffering of the thousands of internally displaced persons who continue to languish in various relief centres across the state in subhuman conditions. Loud declarations of projects may be useful as a carefully choreographed event for political optics, yet the silence on substantive concerns with respect to peace, justice, and the reluctance to frame a commitment to a rules-based........

© Indian Express