Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Manipur on Sunday and campaigned for party candidates an election campaign rally at Hapta Kangjeibung in Imphal, but it was not easy to keep the people waiting for the PM to listen to his speech.
In order to keep the gathering from leaving the Imphal rally of Modi, who reached the venue late in the evening, desperate attempts were made by Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh, his ministers and the police.
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It has been reported that as the police shut the gates, some of the people including women climbed over the tall gates to leave the venue. A video capturing such scene has also gone viral in the social media.
According to media reports, in an attempt to convince the people attending the rally, Manipur rural development & panchayati raj minister Thongam Biswajit Singh reportedly said: “Let us at least listen PM Modi’s message for Manipur and the Northeast.”
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Minister Biswajit Singh made the statement after a BJP member reportedly informed him that people had started to leave the venue. The minister made the appeal specially targeting the women and students, who expressed their unwillingness to wait for too long to see the PM and listen to his speech, reports News Central.
Despite his appeal, people started to head towards the exit gate.
The report quoted minister Biswajit Singh as saying, “I earnestly request you all to wait for 10 more minutes, the Prime Minister will be here in 10 minutes and 10 minutes is nothing, he will be here before my speech concludes. Let’s listen to what plans the prime minister has for Manipur.”
He then paused and started taking suggestions from other worried BJP leaders who were present at the stage.
Minister Singh also asked for suggestions whether music be played while waiting;
Biswajit Singh asked the crowd: “Shall we play some music while we wait? Since everyone is leaving, wouldn’t it be better to listen to some songs and stay instead of leaving?”
The minister also said the BJP leaders gathered at the venue to “expose lies of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi to the people of Manipur”.
Responding to him, some people in the audience asked him to play music.
But when that too did not work, Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh while addressing the audience said: “PM was late as he was rallying in other parts of the Northeast. Let us all wait for Modi and hear him out, at least,”
But the CM’s words also fell into deaf ears.
Before arriving at Imphal, Prime Minister Modi addressed an election campaign rally at Udaipur in Tripura and prior to that he addressed a rally at Cooch Behar in West Bengal.
As per a video posted by Manipur Talks, the police also tried to physically restrain people from leaving the rally. In the video, police have been seen barricading the area to stop people from leaving the venue.
In a video circulated in the social media, two women have been seen climbing a closed gate.
The report quoted furious women as saying, “What is Narendra Modi going to do coming here!”
According to the report, the exit gate was later opened by the police as more people started to leave the venue fearing stampede.