Politics that seeks to provide a healing touch, wipe tears and embrace the aggrieved may become disconcerting for those who fail to rise to the occasion themselves and extend a helping hand to the distressed.

No wonder that when hurdles were created to Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the most troubled areas of Manipur on Thursday, the Congress explained this phenomenon as the anxiety of a “dictator” who didn’t perform his duty. “Nafrat se bhara tanashah mohabbat se darta hai (A dictator filled with hate gets frightened by love),” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said.

“Is it a crime to provide the healing touch? Is it a crime to wipe tears? Is it a crime to send a message to the aggrieved people that the entire nation is concerned about you? Narendra Modi toured America and Egypt and returned to attend the BJP’s ‘mera booth sabse mazboot’ function. Amit Shah is busy doing election campaigns in states. And the BJP has the guts to ask ‘why is Rahul Gandhi going to Manipur?’” Shrinate said, expressing outrage at the obstructions created “on the instructions of the bosses from Delhi”.

Rahul’s visit has come after the Prime Minister’s silence on the Manipur violence for 56 days. Not only did Modi not issue any statement or tweet but he also refused to meet a 10-party delegation from Manipur. The delegation included Okram Ibobi Singh who was the chief minister of Manipur for 15 years and understands the nature of the crisis. There was an expectation that Modi would visit the state after returning from his foreign tour but he gave preference to elections and the inauguration of a Vande Bharat train despite getting feedback on the Manipur crisis.

Under such circumstances when consoling the people of Manipur doesn’t appear to be the priority of either the BJP or the Modi government, the police’s decision to block Rahul’s convoy triggered outrage in the Congress.

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted: “Rahul Gandhi’s convoy in Manipur has been stopped by the police near Bishnupur. He is going there to meet the people suffering in relief camps and to provide a healing touch in the strife-torn state. Modi has not bothered to break his silence on Manipur. He has left the state to fend for itself. Now, his double-engine disastrous governments are using autocratic methods to stall a compassionate outreach by Rahul Gandhi.”

Kharge added: "This is totally unacceptable and shatters all Constitutional and Democratic norms. Manipur needs peace, NOT confrontation.”

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “It is most unfortunate that the Modi government is preventing Rahul Gandhi from visiting relief camps and interacting with people outside Imphal. His two-day visit to Manipur is in the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Prime Minister may choose to remain silent or be inactive but why stop Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to listen to all sections of the Manipur society and provide a healing touch?”

This is not the first time that Rahul has been stopped from meeting aggrieved people in a country whose foundations are laid on Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of standing with the oppressed. From Gandhi’s sojourn in Bengal’s riot-hit Noakhali to Indira Gandhi’s famous visit to Bihar’s Belchi, standing with the oppressed has been India’s political tradition.

Rahul was sent back from Srinagar airport on August 25, 2019, when he tried to visit Kashmir where people suffered an unprecedented humanitarian crisis caused by the lockdown imposed by the Modi government after the removal of Article 370 and the disintegration of the state.

On October 1, 2020, Rahul was stopped from going to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit girl was cremated by the police without the family’s permission after a brutal rape and torture that took her life. On October 6, 2021, Rahul was stopped at Lucknow airport when he was going to Lakhimpur to meet the family members of farmers who were mowed down by the son of a central minister.

Modi remained silent on all these tragedies.

The Manipur crisis erupted on May 3 and Modi has tweeted about varied subjects except the state. The subjects of Modi’s tweets included the US, Egypt and Australia tours, the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Vande Bharat trains, songs on millets, the Summer Olympics, yoga, Rath Yatra, political dynasty, BJP booth workers’ conference, Ashadhi Ekadashi, Kharchi Puja, lavender, Uttarakhand tourism, G-20, loan distribution in Etawa, President getting an award in Suriname, death of actress Sulochna, Nepal, the Odisha train accident and countless birthday wishes.

It is not that the Northeast completely skipped his attention. He did talk about Vande Bharat in Assam, the “unprecedented” pace of progress in the Northeast and the rich organic produce of Nagaland.