New Delhi
Mob set Indian federal minister’s house on fire in remote northeastern state of Manipur, officials confirmed on Friday.
State has been hit by clashes among ethnic rival group for over month.
Junior foreign minister R.K Ranjan Singh’s office confirmed the incident of vandalism and fire to his house in Imphal (Manipur capital).
Fortunately none of the family member or caretaker was injured in attack, told an aid to Singh from New Delhi.
According to ANI minister said ‘I am shocked. The law and order situation has totally failed in Manipur.
R.K Ranjan Singh is federal minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the ruling party who also is in power in Manipur.
The attack comes after weeks of violent clashes between members of the Kuki ethnic group, who mostly live in the hills, and Meiteis, the dominant community in the lowlands of the state.
Singh is from the Meitei community. No group has taken responsibility for the latest attack.
Clashes between the two communities erupted on May 3, sparked by resentment over economic benefits and quotas for easy access to government jobs and education reserved for the Kukis.
Meiteis account for half of Manipur’s population and extending limited affirmative action quotas to them would mean they would get a greater share in education and government jobs reserved for Kukis and others.
Latest federal home ministry records showed 83 people have been killed and over 60,000 residents displaced since May in the violence.
Civil society organisations from the Meitei and Kuki communities said hundreds of people from their communities were injured and homeless.
