Will establish peace again in Manipur: Modi in Parliament
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his commitment to addressing the suffering of the people of Manipur and bringing perpetrators of crimes against women to justice. He also emphasized the importance of the North-East states in the context of global politics and Southeast Asia's rise. Modi's speech came after a three-day debate triggered by a no-confidence motion filed by the Congress party, which criticized the government's handling of the ethnic violence in Manipur. The Prime Minister contrasted his government's efforts to boost security and development in the region with the track record of past Congress governments.
New Delhi The government recognises the suffering of the people of Manipur, sees the crimes against women in the state as unacceptable, is committed to bringing perpetrators to justice, and will ensure that a new dawn of peace will arise in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Parliament on Thursday.
The PM added that India, and Parliament, stand firmly with Manipur, and the government is committed to steering the state back to the path of development.
Modi contrasted the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s track record in boosting security and development in the North-East with that of past Congress governments, blaming the opposition party for the problems in the region. He also pointed out that given the churn in global politics and the rise in importance of Southeast Asia, the importance of North-East states will grow in the years to come.
In a speech that lasted for two hours and 15 minutes, Modi first mentioned Manipur a little over 90 minutes into his speech, soon after the Opposition walked out claiming that he hadn’t addressed the issue.
Modi referred to the “court judgment” — in a reference to Manipur high court’s decision to consider Meities of the valley as scheduled tribes that triggered unrest and opposition among tribals, particularly Kukis, of the hills — as leading to the cycle of violence.
“Many families have suffered. There have been grave crimes against women, this is unacceptable. Our government is committed to ensuring the strictest punishment against perpetrators,” Modi said, adding that he wanted to assure the citizens that a new dawn of peace will arise in the state. “I want to assure the people of Manipur that India is with you. Parliament is with you. We will together find a solution to this challenge. We will establish peace again. I assure the people of Manipur that we will spare no effort in returning the state to the path of development.”
Modi’s speech came at the end of a three-day debate triggered by a no-confidence motion filed by Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi on July 26, citing the grave injustice in Manipur and the PM’s silence on the issue. When the session commenced, in the wake of the prolonged crisis in the state, the government had offered to discuss Manipur, with home minister Amit Shah willing to respond to the Opposition’s concerns, but the newly constituted Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc insisted that the PM speak on the ethnic violence in the state, and saw the no-confidence motion as a way to force Modi to address the issue.
The debate saw Opposition leaders, including Congress’s MP Rahul Gandhi, criticise the PM for failing to visit Manipur or speak on the issue, slam the central and state government’s administrative failure in restoring peace despite violence having persisted for over three months, demand the dismissal of state chief minister N Biren Singh, highlight the gruesome incidents of sexual assault that stirred the nation’s conscience, and point to the deepening Meitei-Kuki political, emotional and territorial divide in the state. For his part, Shah, in a speech on Wednesday, provided a historical context of ethnic violence and the insecurities felt by both communities, outlined the steps taken by the government to boost security, claimed that the violence had peaked in May and consistently dipped since, and appealed for peace and dialogue.
It was in this acrimonious context that Modi stepped in to intervene on Thursday evening.
Modi said that if the Opposition had agreed to Shah when he offered a full discussion on Manipur, all elements of the issue could have been debated. “The country was surprised that the opposition had spread so many lies….Amit Shah, without getting into politics, patiently explained the situation, expressed the government’s concern, and sought to make citizens aware of the issue. It was an honest effort to find ways to resolve the impasse in Manipur but the Opposition doesn’t want to do anything beyond politics”.
Claiming that he personally had an “emotional attachment” to the region and had extensively travelled in the Northeast, Modi presented three examples to showcase the Congress’s approach to the region.
The first was of March 5, 1966 when the then PM Indira Gandhi used the Air Force “against innocent civilians” in Mizoram. “Weren’t citizens of Mizoram our citizens? Even today, Mizoram mourns on March 5 every year. It hasn’t forgotten till now. And Congress has hidden this fact from the country,” an angry Modi said. The second incident, he said, was from 1962 when the then PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, in the wake of Chinese aggression against India and ingress across the North-East, said in a radio broadcast that his heart went out to the people of Assam. “People of Assam still remember that. Nehru had left them to their fate.” And the third incident, Modi said, in a clear attempt to highlight the contradictions between the Congress and socialist outfits that now constitute the India bloc, was socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia’s criticism of the Nehru government for not developing the region. “Lohia said that a region of more than 30,000 square miles has been kept in cold storage and deprived of development. This is your attitude to the North-East.”
In contrast, the PM pointed out that in nine years, he had travelled to the region 50 times while Cabinet ministers had spent over 400 nights in not just the state capitals but also district headquarters of the North-East states. He said that since there were fewer parliamentary seats from the region, the Congress didn’t care much for it, and he could claim with responsibility that the Congress had given birth to the problems in the region. Separatism was rife, the Indian state’s civil servants had to pay separatist groups to be able to function, national anthem wasn’t allowed, Modi said, drawing a comparative picture.
But for him and his government, Modi said, the region was a part of their heart. In Manipur, he said that the government in the last six years had brought an end to blockades and strikes. “The more we keep politics away, the closer we will come to resolution.” He also pointed out that with Southeast Asia developing, ASEAN becoming more important, India’s northeast will soon become a “centre point”.
“I can see it and that’s why our government has made development in the region a top priority,” Modi said, pointing to the boost in infrastructure and connectivity across the northeast in his term.
Hitting back, the Congress accused the PM of being gripped with “Congress-phobia”.
“... In these two hours, all he did was to twist the name of our country - India. There is a Congress-phobia inside that we can see because the prime minister spent most of his time blaming the Congress party,” party’s deputy leader in LS Gaurav Gogoi said.