Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale has appealed to the two communities in Manipur to maintain peace. Expressing concern over the recent attack on women in Manipur, he termed the incident as very serious and called for shunning violence.

Mr. Athawale was addressing a press conference in Kochi on Saturday. He urged the Kerala Chief Minister to provide protection to backward communities in the state and urged him to convene a meeting of all concerned to address the issue of attacks on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.