India  

Manipur violence concerns Olympic medalist Mary Kom, says hometown is burning

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Manipur: Mary Kom, an Olympic medal-winning boxer and Rajya Sabha MP, asked everyone to be peaceful amid widespread violence in her hometown which is Manipur. The reason of violence is that the Meitei community which is in majority has been included in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. The action was challenged by other communities as this move will be denying them access to government jobs and admission to educational institutions.

In an interview with news agency ANI, Mary Kom urged state and centre governments to work together to maintain peace and security. She also appealed to all communities, saying that living in peace would be better for all. She appealed on twitter “My state Manipur is burning, kindly help,” and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his office along with Home Minister Amit Shah and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.

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The violence broke out when a ‘tribal solidarity march’ was called by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur, with thousands taking part in several protest marches and events in all 10 districts of the Hillstate. The police pointed to “anti-social elements” who shared images using social media and posted hate speech and videos. Government banned mobile internet for 5 days.

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