Days after highlighting the Manipur crisis and other issues in his Lok Sabha speech during the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi is set to visit the troubled Northeastern state on Monday.

Senior Congress leaders assert that Gandhi’s first trip to Manipur as LoP will send a message that “it is high time Prime Minister Narendra Modi should also visit the strife-torn state,” which has been roiled by ethnic conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zomi communities since May last year.

During his day-long visit to Manipur, Gandhi will meet violence-affected people in relief camps in three places: Jiribam, Churachandpur, and Moirang (Bishnupur district). He is also scheduled to meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey to discuss the crisis.

His visit to Jiribam town is significant as it remained largely unaffected by clashes until June this year, when a killing shattered its tenuous peace.

“The Congress has repeatedly spoken about PM Modi not visiting Manipur since May last year. Now it is time for us to walk the talk, and hence, Rahul Gandhi has decided to go there for the third time since May last year. The message is clear – our leader will do what the PM won’t,” said an All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader.

The leader claimed this would also send a message to the people that “while PM Modi is visiting foreign countries, our leader is standing with the people of a state which has been neglected despite being in turmoil for so long.”

PM Modi is scheduled to visit Russia on July 8-9, followed by Austria on July 9-10.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the AICC’s in-charge for Manipur, Girish Chodankar, said: “This will be Rahul ji’s first official visit to Manipur after becoming LoP in the Lok Sabha. He has been to Hathras and Ahmedabad since – the Hathras visit was to meet victims of a stampede incident, and the Ahmedabad one was to meet party workers and leaders.”

“We want to show that Manipur is very much a part of India… Rahul ji‘s visit is not a political one but to share the pain of the people of Manipur. He is going there with a message of love. Wherever there is hatred, he will go with love. We are hopeful that the PM goes there too after seeing Rahul Gandhi go there for the third time since the violence started,” said Chodankar.

The Congress-led Opposition has raised the issue of the Manipur crisis repeatedly in both Houses of Parliament.

On July 2, during PM Modi’s over two-hour-long reply to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address in the Lok Sabha, Opposition members continuously raised slogans of “Justice for Manipur” and “Bharat Jodo.”

The Manipur issue did not figure in President Droupadi Murmu’s address to both Houses of Parliament on June 27.

Newly-elected Congress MP from Inner Manipur, A Bimol Akoijam, criticized the Modi government on July 1 for “ignoring” the state. “Is this silence communicating to the people of the Northeast and particularly Manipur that you do not matter in the Indian State’s scheme of things?” Akoijam asked in the Lower House, hours after Gandhi also flagged the Manipur crisis during his speech.

On July 3, in his Rajya Sabha reply, PM Modi asserted that his government is making every effort to restore peace in Manipur, urging the Opposition to rise above politics on the issue. “Some elements are adding fuel to the fire, and such elements will be rejected by the people of Manipur,” Modi said.

Modi also noted that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had visited the state and “stayed there (in Manipur) for days.” He reminded the Congress of the turmoil faced by Manipur in 1993 when it was in power at the Centre.

The Congress rejected PM Modi’s statement, questioning his “astounding claim” that the situation in Manipur is normal. “In actuality, the situation is still tense as the MP from Inner Manipur pointed out in the Lok Sabha on 1st July,” said AICC general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh.

Congress leaders say Gandhi’s visit will also be to “thank the people of Manipur” for giving both Lok Sabha seats to the Congress. “Before the elections, Gandhi visited the state twice – even starting his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur. Now that we have won both its Lok Sabha seats, people should know that he will be with them even after polls,” said another Congress leader.

On January 14 this year, Gandhi started the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Imphal, concluding in Mumbai on March 18. Before launching the Yatra, Gandhi alleged that Manipur was a victim of “the BJP and RSS’s politics of hate.”

On June 30 last year, Rahul undertook his first visit to Manipur after the ethnic violence erupted. He was there for two days and was stopped by police en route to Churachandpur by road. He then reached the town by helicopter in the evening.

During his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi spoke about the violence in Manipur at many rallies across the country.

In the polls, Akoijam defeated the ruling BJP’s Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh in Inner Manipur by 1.09 lakh votes. In Outer Manipur, the Congress’s Alfred Kan-Ngam Arthur defeated the NDA ally NPF’s Kachui Timothy Zimik by 85,418 votes.