Senior Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s likely visit to Manipur should not be seen as the end of a process, but rather the start of a long journey to restore peace in the strife-torn State.
Speaking on the sidelines of a programme in Guwahati on Friday (September 5, 2025), Gogoi, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said: “We cannot say that normalcy has returned to Manipur. There is no elected government, so Modi’s visit should not be seen as the end goal. It is only a beginning on a long journey to bring peace, justice, reconciliation and democracy back to Manipur.”
Emphasising the need for healing among communities, he added: “I hope that the BJP understands that the PM’s visit is not the end but only the beginning — one that has come very late.”
According to the Assam Congress president, the visit should have been scheduled much earlier. “The likely visit of the PM should have been planned two years ago, and there are still many more milestones to overcome. As they say, justice delayed is justice denied, and the people of Manipur have been denied the PM’s presence for far too long,” he said.
Gogoi also suggested that the Prime Minister must begin his visit by offering an apology. “When the PM arrives, the first thing he should do is apologise to the people of Manipur for not showing up over the last two years,” he said.
Prime Minister Modi is expected to visit Manipur on September 13. The Congress has termed the visit “too little, too late.”
On Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s remarks that the SIT will submit its report on alleged links between Pakistan national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh and his partners in India on September 10, Gogoi said the Congress would continue to expose the “scams” of the BJP government.
The Chief Minister has repeatedly targeted Gogoi over allegations involving his wife Elizabeth Colburn, claiming she had links with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI and “good relations” with the Pakistan Army, and that Gogoi himself had stayed in the neighbouring country for 15 days “in a personal, not official, capacity.”
Turning to the Union Home Ministry’s new Immigration and Foreigners’ (Exemption) Order, 2025, Gogoi said it undermines the Assam Accord and should have been debated in Parliament first. The order allows minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan — including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians — who entered India until December 31, 2024, to stay on humanitarian grounds.
Gogoi was attending a media interaction of INDIA bloc Vice-Presidential candidate B. Sudershan Reddy. “As a former Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, he is familiar with the situation in Assam and the other northeastern States,” he said.
“He understands the political complexities of a State like Manipur and has the knowledge, wisdom and experience to voice the concerns and aspirations of the Northeast at the highest forum,” Gogoi noted, expressing confidence that Reddy “would perform beyond people’s expectations.”
