Rahul Gandhi gave Manipuris a shoulder to cry on

WE WERE ALL aware of the situation in Manipur, but when we visited the state with Rahul Gandhi, what we saw and heard was beyond our imagination. The state appeared to have abandoned its responsibilities to the people. The government neither tried to bring normalcy by bridging the schism between the two communities nor did it help the victims of the violence.

- K.C. VENUGOPAL

The need of the hour is to ensure that the two communities sit together. The situation is so bad that officers from one community cannot even enter an area dominated by the other community. The government has failed miserably to bridge the gap between them.

Rahul visited Manipur to provide a healing touch to the people. He did not go there to do politics. He did not utter a single political statement during the visit. We went to the relief camps of both the communities and met the people. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories. They had lost everything—their homes, their belongings and their kin. Most of the people we met had lost a child, a sibling or a parent.