BJP’s callous indifference, gross incompetence pushed Manipur into prolonged crisis: Congress

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. File

Amid a fresh spate of violence in Manipur, the Congress on Monday (November 2, 2026) alleged that the BJP's "callous indifference" and "gross incompetence" have pushed the strategically vital border State into a prolonged crisis.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge made the allegation after detailed discussions with senior leaders of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee and called for ending the BJP's "misrule" in the upcoming state polls.

Besides Mr. Kharge, 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 chief Ibobi Singh, Congress legislature party leader K. Meghachandra, among others, attended the meeting in New Delhi.

In a post on X, Mr. Kharge said he held detailed discussions with senior leaders of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee on the grave challenges confronting the state.

"The BJP's political arrogance, callous indifference and gross incompetence have pushed this strategically vital border State into a prolonged crisis. Having presided over the deterioration of law and order, the BJP leadership has sought to vanish, evading accountability as the situation spiralled out of control," he alleged.

The people of Manipur deserve peace, stability, dignity and justice, Mr. Kharge asserted.

In the forthcoming Assembly elections, the Congress party stands with the people of Manipur in its resolve to end the BJP's misrule and restore peace, reconciliation and progress, he said.

Referring to the INDIA bloc's Sunday (November 1) rally, Mr. Venugopal said the "anger" seen at Ramlila Maidan was only a glimpse of the sweeping anti-incumbency sentiment in the BJP-ruled States such as 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 after the meeting.

Manipur "continues to burn in the flames of ethnic conflict lit by the ruling regime, where the people already rejected the BJP in both Lok Sabha seats in 2024, and cannot wait to drive them away completely", he said.

"Devbhoomi Uttarakhand's temples have also not been spared from the Chanda Chori that the BJP has mastered in Ayodhya and all across India. Not only the holy temples, but the BJP's greed in Uttarakhand is seeing vast mountains being handed over to corporates - despite clear warnings from Mother Nature against such wanton destruction," he said.

Elections are slated to take place in Manipur early next year.

Protests erupted in several parts of Kangpokpi district on Sunday night (November 1), as agitators burned tyres on many roads and blocked several stretches with logs and boulders. Police have since managed to clear some of the roads.

The mutilated bodies of two youths, who recently went missing, were found in a hilly stretch in Senapati district on Sunday morning (November 1), officials said.

More than 50 people have been killed and dozens of houses burnt across Tamenglong, Noney, Kamjong, Ukhrul and Kangpokpi districts since ethnic clashes broke out between Kuki and Naga communities in February this year.

The state had earlier witnessed ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kukis, in which over 300 people were killed, while 49 remained missing, and thousands were rendered homeless.

Indian National Congress / Bharatiya Janata Party / Rahul Gandhi