India is shining, Manipur is burning.

So said a banner put up by student protesters in Imphal on Friday afternoon, expressing their frustration at what a student leader said was the Centre’s “inability” to contain or resolve the Manipur unrest or protect Indian citizens.

The banner comes against the backdrop of the murder of two Imphal-based Meitei students — who had been missing since July 6 — and the alleged use of “excess force” by security forces on demonstrating students on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The text on the banner is reminiscent of a previous BJP-led government’s “India shining” slogan that had backfired spectacularly in the 2004 general election.

The students held a peaceful meeting at Keishampat in Imphal West district around 11.30am and followed it up with a streetside protest on Tiddim Road around 12.30-1pm.

The “India is shining, Manipur is burning” banner was displayed prominently as governor Anusuiya Uikey, travelling from the airport to Raj Bhavan, passed through the street with the students lined up on one side. The banner was put up because a governor is also the representative of the Centre in the state, a student said.

The protesters chanted slogans such as “We demand NRC” and “Down, down Kuki narco-terrorists”, and held up placards that said “Stop abusive crackdown on unarmed students” and demanded justice for the two murdered students, photographs of whose bodies surfaced recently.

Civil society and student organisations based in the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley blame the five-month-old Meitei-Kuki violence on illegal influx and narcotic trade from Myanmar.

In the evening, Uikey, who returned from Delhi on Friday, visited the homes of both murdered students and met their parents.

“She shared their grief and assured them the culprits would be booked. She said the CBI had initiated its inquiry. She offered water to the mothers of the deceased who were on fast, and urged them to keep faith,” a Raj Bhavan source said.

The governor then visited Shija Hospital to meet student protesters injured in security force action. “She assured them of all medical help and urged the students to see that their protests remained peaceful,” the source said.

On Thursday night, the BJP-led state government formed a committee headed by inspector-general of police (administration) K. Jayanta Singh to “verify” reports/ allegations/ complaints of “use of excess force by security forces” on protesters. The committee has been asked to hand in its report at the earliest.

Leishangthem Lamyanba, coordinator of the six students’ organisations that had called Friday’s protests, said the banner had been put up to convey the students’ feelings about the Centre’s “inability” to control or resolve the Manipur unrest, which entered its 150th day on Friday.

“Though India claims to be on its way to becoming a superpower and says it is the most democratic country, central forces in Manipur are using pellet guns on innocent student protesters, inflicting serious injuries,” the Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur president said.

“Such brutality is happening 76 years after Independence and is keeping the situation volatile…. The Indian government’s inability to protect its citizens shows they don’t really care. They could not rescue the abducted students in time, resulting in the tragic loss of life,” Lamyanba said.

He appealed to the Centre to “save Manipur from illegal immigrants and Chin-Kuki narco-terrorists and show us and show the world that India has the rule of law”.

Student protests on Tuesday and Wednesday had witnessed standoffs with the security forces at multiple locations. Over 100 students were injured, some of them courtesy tear gas shells, smoke bombs and batons.

A few students are said to have suffered injuries inflicted by pellet guns, an allegation that saw youths and Meira Paibis (women Meitei protesters) intensify the demonstrations and continue long into the night.

Although said to be non-lethal, pellet guns fired from close range can cause critical injuries.

An Imphal resident said protesters had been on the streets till 2am on Friday.

Several protesters were hurt during an attempt by a mob to march to chief minister N. Biren Singh’s private residence in Imphal East on Thursday night, a move foiled by the security forces.

A police statement on Wednesday had said the security forces had used “minimum force” and “fired some tear gas shells” but made no reference to pellet guns.