Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday questioned the timing of the video from Manipur, which showed two women being paraded naked, saying that it was “leaked” a day before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament and claimed that politics was behind the leak.
Sarma also claimed that incidents of rape are much higher in some opposition-ruled states like West Bengal, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh than BJP-ruled Manipur or other northeastern provinces, and said that the incident should be called as is, rather than attaching the name of the state to it.
“The case (regarding the incident) was registered long back, video was available. It was leaked a day before the commencement of the Parliament session. So, some kind of political things are involved,” he said while addressing a press conference in Guwahati.
He, however, added, “Irrespective of the date of release of the video, the incident should be condemned, culprits should be punished — on that I have no issue. But you should not defame entire Manipur or Northeast.”
The Assam CM also claimed that rape incidents happen less in the Northeast, especially in Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
“This is a sad incident, but an impression is being given that it happens every day in Manipur. If you compare rape incidents of West Bengal, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh against Manipur, it’s less in Manipur. Rape incidents happen in Assam too. But the numbers are lesser in the Northeast,” he said.
“We want the Manipur government to file such a chargesheet that the judiciary gives the strictest possible punishment to the culprits,” he said.
Further, Sarma also objected to the referring the incident by the name of the state, saying that it was “bringing a bad name to Manipur”.
“We are feeling bad that the entire state is being defamed. The condemnation should be restricted to only that incident. It should not be called Manipur’s incident.
“Why do you take the name of the state repeatedly? As if no rape take place in Congress-ruled states! This is wrong. People are condemning the incident and culprits have been arrested, but the state should not be defamed,” Sarma said.
The Congress-turned-BJP leader also hit out at Rahul Gandhi saying, “What is the relation of the incident with other Manipuri people? You are defaming Manipur as if such incidents are taking place in every house, every lane of the state.”