PM Modi didn't say a word on Manipur, 'deliberately backtracking' on state, says Congress

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi speaks in the Lok Sabha during the parliamentary session, in New Delhi. | Photo credit: ANI

The Congress on July 3 criticised the government for refusing its second MP from Manipur to speak before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in the Lok Sabha, saying the prime minister repeated his old allegations, cracked jokes and took jibes but did not have the patience to listen to the voice of the violence-hit state legislator.

The opposition party also alleged that the prime minister appeared to be deliberately “turning his back” on the plight of Manipur.

In his nearly 135-minute speech in response to the discussion on the motion of thanks for the President's address in the Lower House, Mr Modi faced continuous sloganeering on the Manipur issue by the opposition members.

Just before the prime minister's speech, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and the Congress had demanded that his MP from outside Manipur, Alfred Arthur, be allowed to speak.

Speaking to the media, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said, “We have seen very sad scenes in the Lok Sabha. The Congress and Rahul Gandhi wanted the two MPs from Manipur to speak in the debate on the motion of thanks for the President's speech. Gandhi has made this request several times.” Mr Gandhi visited Manipur and witnessed the divided society there, where there is a civil war atmosphere. Gogol said.

Mr Gandhi knew that if we allowed one side to express its views and not the other, it would send a wrong message from Parliament to the people of Manipur, he said.

“That is why our first MLA, who is from Imphal and interior Manipur, spoke on Monday and yesterday we wanted the other MLA, who is from the hills, Alfred, to be given an opportunity to speak. But unfortunately, though we have sympathy for Manipur, the Prime Minister does not want to hear about the plight of Manipur,” Mr Gogoi said.

“Our demand was specific: we knew that the Prime Minister was scheduled to speak at 4 pm and we wanted our MP from Manipur to be given two minutes to express his views. But we did not get those two minutes and had to listen to the Prime Minister for two hours, during which he repeated his old allegations, cracked jokes and taunted, but did not have the patience to listen to the voice of the MP from Manipur,” the Congress leader said.

All our MPs from the North East came to the House to demand justice, he said.

“All our MPs from INDIA block supported us and we raised the slogan of justice for Manipur,” Mr Gogoi said.

Prime Minister Modi did not say a word about Manipur, he said.

“The Prime Minister said that if you don’t have time to do it, you should ask your party. Why should we ask the party? Would it not have been a good gesture on his part to allow an opposition MLA to speak? If he can offer water to an opposition MLA, why doesn’t he have the patience to listen to an opposition MLA from Manipur speak for 2 minutes?” Mr Gogoi said.

“I think the Prime Minister is deliberately turning his back on Manipur. (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat also spoke about Manipur but the Prime Minister did not even listen to him. He did not want an MP from Manipur to speak in his presence,” he alleged.

The Manipur MP continued to shout for two hours but the prime minister continued to level allegations in his speech, Gogoi said.

Congress leader Praniti Shinde said what was seen in Parliament on Tuesday was a “blatant demonstration of the prime minister's insensitivity and lack of empathy” towards the burning Manipur issue.

On Monday, Congress member of the Lok Sabha from interior Manipur, A. Bimol Akoijam, had expressed anguish over the absence of any reference to ethnic violence-hit Manipur in Speaker Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament.

In a fiery speech delivered late Monday night, the new Congress member from interior Manipur drew attention to the 60,000 people living in deplorable conditions in relief camps in the northeastern state for the past year.

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning the opposition's disruption of Prime Minister Modi's speech, with Union Minister Rajnath Singh saying the actions were “destroying” parliamentary norms.

Manipur was plunged into violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities in May 2023. Since then, some 200 people have been killed, while thousands have been displaced following large-scale arson attacks that destroyed homes and government buildings.