Congress dubbed the violence in Manipur ‘pre-planned’ and demanded immediate imposition of President’s Rule in the state. Congress in-charge for Manipur, Bhakta Charan Das said, “BJP government has utterly failed to control the situation in Manipur. It has been unable to stop the violence, unable to stop weapons from being looted or recover them, unable to rescue innocent people and unable to provide facilities to those in relief camps. In this situation. We demand that President’s Rule be immediately imposed to stop these incidents (of violence) that are happening even now.” At least, 1700 homes have been damaged and more than 200 churches and temples burnt. He alleged, “BJP government both in the State and at the Centre betrayed the people of all communities of Manipur.

No democratic process was initiated either by the Union or the State government to fulfil these demands. Instead, conflict was triggered through undemocratic actions by the State government, including sudden evacuation of villagers from 38 villages in forest areas, the spread of violence by BJP functionaries at protest sites, and provocation from the Chief Minister with his arrogant utterances.” Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das said, “The condition in Manipur is visible to the country and world and I have been working in Manipur for the last three years. There are two areas — hill area and the valley area.” He said that “the hill area is vast and people have many complaints. They have demanded development”.

He pointed out that for decades all the communities have been living peacefully and no clashes had taken place in the past. Dubbing the incident of violence as heart-wrenching and serious, he said: “No democratic process was initiated either by the Centre or the state government to fulfil these demands. Instead, conflict was triggered through undemocratic actions by the state government, including sudden evacuation of villages from 38 forest areas, the spread of violence by BJP functionaries at protest sites and provocation from the Chief Minister with his arrogant utterances.” Congress leader said that during the rallies by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur in all hill districts of the state on 3 May, which was largely peaceful in the beginning as a memorandum was given to the District Collector at the end of the protest. Comparing the two Manipur organisations Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun with the RSS and the Bajrang Dal, Das said: “It is during this time that two special forces like RSS and Bajrang Dal were created. One is Arambai Tenggol and the other is Meitei Leepun. They were in black clothes and moved around in a group of hundreds on bikes with guns. They entered police stations and police training centres and looted the armoury.”

He said that they also burned churches, looted villagers, and created fear among the people. Questioning the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader said: “Why the Prime Minister had not appealed for peace in the area?” He also questioned the absence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the state following the violence. “We want President’s rule in Manipur to ensure law and order in the state and bring more accountability,” Das added.