Four Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs were marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly on Thursday after they objected to a discussion on the violence in Manipur, the Hindustan Times reported.
After MLAs Abhay Verma, Jitendra Mahajan, OP Sharma and Anil Bajpai were marshalled out, the remaining BJP legislators, including Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, staged a walkout.
The MLAs said that any discussion on the northeastern state was out of the jurisdiction of the Delhi Assembly.
At least 187 people have been killed and nearly 60,000 have been forced to flee their homes since violence broke out between the Kuki and Meitei communities in the Northeastern state on May 3. The state has reported cases of rape and murder, and mobs have looted police armoury and set several homes on fire despite the heavy presence of central security forces.
Opposition parties have blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre and the state government for failing to control the violence.
On Thursday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the BJP MLAs left the assembly after stating that Manipur was not a relevant issue.
“MLAs of the BJP are clearly saying that they don’t have any relation with Manipur,” Kejriwal said, according to ANI. “It is PM [Narendra] Modi’s message that they [BJP] don’t have any relation with Manipur.”
The chief minister also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not doing enough to contain the violence in the northeastern state.
“India has been defamed on the global stage with the European Parliament holding a discussion on the issue,” the chief minister said. “Even the leaders in the United States condemned the violence, but India’s prime minister remained silent.”
Kejriwal was referring to a resolution passed by the European Parliament on July 13 that said that intolerance towards minorities has contributed to the Manipur violence and urged the Indian government to protect all minorities. The statement had also urged all conflicting sides to stop making inflammatory statements and play a role to mediate tensions.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the BJP said that the Aam Aadmi Party government does not want to talk about issues of Delhi, according to the Hindustan Times.
“The AAP [Aam Aadmi Party government does not want to talk on issues of Delhi and the scams which have been committed by the AAP government,” BJP MLA OP Sharma said. “The Manipur issue is being discussed in the Manipur Assembly and the Lok Sabha. In Delhi Assembly, issues related to the city should be discussed.”
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