AAP stages protest in UP's Meerut against atrocities on women in Manipur

The AAP staged a protest here on Sunday after a video purportedly shot on May 4 surfaced online last week, showing two women being paraded naked in Manipur, and raised slogans against the BJP-led central and Manipur governments.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers gathered at the Kashi toll plaza and raised slogans against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. During the protest led by the Uttar Pradesh unit chief of the AAP's Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, Vanshraj Dubey, and district president Ankush Chowdhary, the party workers expressed displeasure over the misbehaviour meted out to women in ethnic violence-hit Manipur.

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre, Dubey questioned why it took 79 days for Prime Minister Modi to speak on the Manipur violence and wondered whether the Union government could not have intervened when the situation in the northeastern started deteriorating.

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"Couldn't the situation in Manipur have been brought under control earlier?" he asked.

The protesters demanded the dismissal of the Manipur government and appealed for action against the torture inflicted upon people.

More than 160 people have lost their lives and several have been injured since the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, when a "Tribal Solidarity March" was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Tension further mounted on Wednesday after the video purportedly shot on May 4 surfaced online, showing two women from one of the warring communities being paraded naked by a group of men from the other side.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal valley, while tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.