PM Modi’s Manipur visit should be seen as journey towards peace, not end goal: Gaurav Gogoi

Guwahati, Sep 6 : Senior Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's likely visit to Manipur should not be seen as the end goal, but rather as the start on a long journey to bring peace back to the State.
Mr. Gogoi, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on the sidelines of a programme in Guwahati on Friday (September 5, 2025), said, "We cannot say that normalcy has returned to Manipur... there is no elected government, so [Mr.] Modi's visit should not be seen as the end goal. It is only a start on a "long journey to bring peace, justice, reconciliation and democracy back to Manipur," the Congress MP said.
Emphasising that the relationship among the people of Manipur must heal, their aspirations must be met, he said, "I hope that the BJP understands that the PM's visit is not the end but only a beginning which has come very much delayed."
“The likely visit of the PM should have been planned two years ago, and there are still many more milestones to overcome,” the Assam Congress president claimed. "As they say that justice delayed is justice denied, people of Manipur have been denied of the PM's visit for far too long," he said.
He hoped that when the PM arrives, the first thing he should do is to "apologise to the people of Manipur for not showing up for the last two years."
On the new Immigration and Foreigners' (Exemption) Order, 2025, Mr. Gogoi said it has negated the Assam Accord, and such an important matter should have been first discussed in Parliament.
"I hope my colleagues from across the political aisle realise how, at this point, we need someone who understands Manipur, the Assam Accord and other issues of the Northeast," he said.
Mr. Gogoi asserted that he was confident that Reddy would do much better than what the people's expectations are. PTI