Kolkata, Mar 7: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee turned up the heat on the BJP-led Centre and President Droupadi Murmu at a packed protest rally in Kolkata Saturday, blasting the President’s “deafening silence” on the brutal torture and displacement of tribals in Manipur and other BJP-ruled states like Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, where ethnic bloodletting has raged for nearly three years.
Standing atop a stage bedecked with TMC banners and tribal solidarity placards, Banerjee roared to thousands of supporters: “Why was President Didi silent when innocent tribals in Manipur—Kukis, Nagas, and others—were torched alive in their villages, women paraded naked, and children gunned down? Where was her voice when BJP states turned into killing fields? Today she speaks on women’s safety, but yesterday’s oppressed got nothing!”
Her broadside—delivered amid fresh Jiribam clashes killing 12 Kukis and displacing 1,000 more this week—painted a grim canvas of Meitei militias razing 4,000+ homes since May 2023, with UN pleas ignored and Army redeployments failing to stem the tide. Banerjee accused Delhi of “weaponising Rashtrapati Bhavan” to shield saffron allies, contrasting Murmu’s recent women’s safety push with zero intervention in Manipur’s “genocide.”
“This isn’t governance—it’s complicity! BJP promised ‘Sabka Saath,’ but delivers ‘Sabka Saath with Militants.’ Nagaland’s unresolved Naga talks? Arunachal’s border neglect? All swept under saffron rugs,” she fumed, invoking Manmohan-era peace deals trashed under Modi. TMC cadres chanted “Justice for Manipur!” as Banerjee positioned Bengal as tribals’ “last refuge”—offering jobs, homes, and scholarships to Manipur refugees already trickling into Siliguri.
The rally, timed post-Ram Navami tensions and ahead of 2026 polls, doubles as political ammo: Banerjee slammed Modi’s “federal hypocrisy”—President’s Rule threats in Bengal but kid gloves for Biren Singh’s Manipur mayhem despite 250+ deaths, 60,000 displaced, and arms bazaars thriving. “If Delhi can’t protect Adivasis, step aside—Bengal will!” she vowed, announcing Rs 5 crore aid for Manipur camps and a “Tribal Unity March” next month.
BJP hit back, branding it “votebank opportunism”—Murmu, a tribal icon from Odisha, has visited Manipur thrice, flagged relief funds, and urged peace, while Centre airlifts Army units and Supreme Court monitors probes. Yet Banerjee’s narrative sticks in tribal pockets: Why no emergency, no Biren’s ouster? As Kuki-Zo bodies blockade highways and Meiteis demand ST status, her protest amplifies a federal faultline—Manipur’s agony now Kolkata’s rallying cry, with Lok Sabha echoes looming.
