The Opposition alliance had to introduce a no-confidence motion against the Centre in order to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vow of silence” on the violence in Manipur, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Kaliabor MP, initiating the discussion on the no-confidence motion, said that the INDIA alliance had brought in the no-confidence motion to ensure justice for Manipur.
“One should not think of the violence as something that is happening in some corner of the North East,” he remarked. “If Manipur is burning, the whole of India is burning. And so, today, we are speaking not just about Manipur, but about the whole country.”
Gogoi questioned why Modi did not visit the state after the violence first began three months ago. He also asked why it took almost 80 days for the prime minister to speak about the situation in the Northeastern state. “When he did speak, it was barely for 30 seconds,” he said.
Gogoi further asked why Modi had not yet sacked Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh. “You changed chief ministers multiple times ahead of elections in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Tripura,” he said. “What special blessings have you given to the Manipur chief minister?”
The Congress MP demanded that Modi should speak about the violence in Manipur in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha. He also demanded that the prime minister should lead an all-party delegation to the conflict-hit state, and hold meetings with civil society organisations there.
Gogoi said that Modi needs to accept that his “double engine government” in Manipur has failed. He added that the Supreme Court setting up a committee to monitor the administrative response in the state shows that it is not satisfied with the actions of the Centre and Manipur government.
The court on Monday appointed an all-women committee of three former High Court judges headed by Justice Gita Mittal to oversee rehabilitation of victims in the northeastern state. It also asked former Maharashtra Director General of Police Dattatray Padsalgikar to monitor the Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into cases of sexual assault.
At least 187 people have been killed and nearly 60,000 have been forced to flee their homes in Manipur since violence broke out on May 3.
The state has reported cases of rape and murder, mobs have looted police armouries and set several homes on fire despite the heavy presence of central security forces.
‘Why didn’t Rahul Gandhi speak first?’ asks Union minister
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, in an apparent dig at Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday questioned why the Congress MP did not initiate the discussion on the no-confidence motion, NDTV reported.
Gandhi was on Monday reinstated as the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad, three days after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
Joshi on Tuesday said that as per his knowledge, the Speaker’s office had received a letter at 11.55 am stating that Gandhi would speak in the Lok Sabha in place of Gogoi. “What happened in the space of five minutes, sir?” he asked. “What is the problem, sir? We are very enthusiastic to listen to Mr Rahul Gandhi.”
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who addressed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, said: “The PM says that this is not a no-trust-vote, it is a ‘trust in Opposition’ vote.”
Dubey said that the Opposition wants to “see who supports them”, The Indian Express reported.
He also claimed that the ongoing debate on the no-confidence motion against the government is Congress MP Sonia Gandhi’s attempt to set up her son, Rahul Gandhi, and take care of her son-in-law, Robert Vadra.
Dubey said that the Supreme Court order staying Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the Modi surname defamation case is not a judgement. The BJP leader also spoke on Rahul Gandhi’s refusal to apologise for his remarks about Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar.
“Secondly, he says ‘I am not Savarkar’,” Dubey said. “You can never be Savarkar in your life. That man spent 28 years in prison and you compare yourself to him?”
Meanwhile, on Monday evening, the Lok Sabha Speaker restored Dubey’s remarks on Congress taking funds from China to drive anti-India propaganda, reported The Indian Express.
The politician had cited a The New York Times report that had claimed that news website NewsClick had received funds from a network centred around American millionaire Neville Roy Singham to spread “Chinese propaganda” around the world.
The remarks were expunged from Parliament records on Monday but later restored on the House website late evening.
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