Rahul Gandhi rips into Indian PM Modi over Manipur violence

FILE PHOTO: Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader of India's main opposition Congress party, arrives at the parliament after he was reinstated as a lawmaker, in New Delhi, India, August 7, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of the deadly ethnic conflict in Manipur, saying his government had divided the remote northeastern state, broken it and burnt it.

More than 180 people have been killed, many hundreds more wounded and tens of thousands rendered homeless in Manipur since May, but Modi failed to publicly address the violence until last month in a state controlled by his own Hindu nationalist party.