NEW DELHI- Former Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey cried and pleaded with President Draupadi Murmu for about 45 minutes seeking her intervention over violence against minorities in Manipur, veteran journalist Ashok Wankhede has claimed.
“Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey called on President Draupadi Murmu and discussed with her for about 45 minutes the situation in the state”, Ashok Wankhede said.
Wankhede said during the meeting, Anusuiya Uikey profusely cried in front of the President while pleading for her intervention, reported Ummid.
“Anusuiya Uikey asked the President to do something as situation in Manipur is alarmingly dangerous”, Wankhede said while talking to Deepak Sharma on the latter’s YouTube Channel.
Anusuiya Uikey was governor of Manipur from February 23, 2023 till July 26, 2024. During her tenure as Governor Manipur she called on President Murmu a number of times as the state engulfed in ethnic violence killing more than 220 people, according to official figure on May 03, 2024.
One particular incident that shook the entire nation was the mass rape and naked parading of two women of the Kuki-Zomi community of Manipur. The video of the brutal incident surfaced in July 2023 but the incident occurred two months before it was actually reported.
According to Ashok Wankhede, in one of her meetings with President Murmu, Anusuiya Uikey told her that the reports about the violence in Manipur that are in the public domain were nothing compared to the scale of what was going on.
“It is the tip of the ice-burg. The actual situation is far worst”, Anusuiya Uikey told President Draupadi Murmu, according to Ashok Wankhede.
Ashok Wankhede said along with President Murmu, Anusuiya Uikey had also sought the intervention of Prime Minister Modi.
“I pleaded in front of the President. I sought Prime Minister Modi’s intervention. But no one cared”, Wankhede quoted the former Manipur Governor.
Ashok Wankhede recalled his telephone conversation with former Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey during a discussion with Deepak Sharma on his YouTube channel on President’s Murmu’s concerns expressed in the wake of the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, West Bengal.
In a three-page statement released Wednesday, the President said she was dismayed and horrified when she came to hear of the incident at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“What is more depressing is the fact that it was not the only incident of its kind; it is part of a series of crimes against women. Even as students, doctors and citizens were protesting in Kolkata, criminals remained on the prowl elsewhere,” she said while referring to the incident at the RG Kar Medical College and another incident in Maharashtra’s Badlapur.
“The victims include even kindergarten girls. No civilised society can allow daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities. The nation is bound to be outraged, and so am I”, the President said.
Commenting on Murmu’s statement on Kolkata rape and murder case, Ashok Wankhede said what happened in Kolkata was condemnable. But the situation in Manipur too warranted the President’s intervention.
