In Jharkhand, the leaders of JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) and Congress organized protests on Thursday evening, burning effigies of the Prime Minister and the Manipur chief minister. They were expressing their outrage over the appalling incident in Manipur, where two tribal women were paraded naked and allegedly gang-raped.<\/p>\n
Hemant Soren, the Chief Minister of the JMM-Congress-RJD government in the state, condemned the incident, considering it a dark chapter in the nation’s history. He criticized the contradiction between aspiring to become a global leader (“Viswa Guru”) while such barbaric acts continue to happen in the country.<\/p>\n
Supriyo Bhattacharya, the JMM central general secretary and spokesperson, addressed the media on the same evening, demanding the removal of Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh from office and the filing of criminal charges against him. He also questioned the Prime Minister’s response, expressing disappointment that it took him over two months to speak about the Manipur incident for merely one minute in his seven-minute speech at the start of the Lok Sabha monsoon session. Bhattacharya pointed out that the incident occurred in the first week of May, yet the Manipur government only took action against the culprits after a considerable delay.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Bhattacharya accused the Prime Minister of having political motives in his speech, as he mentioned Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan (both governed by the Congress) along with Manipur, while ignoring similar shameful incidents against women in Uttar Pradesh (governed by the BJP), as well as the Bilkis Bano case in Gujarat.<\/p>\n