Calls for PM’s reply in House extend logjam

Both Houses of Parliament in India were unable to function for a second day due to a dispute between the Opposition and the government over the situation in Manipur, where ethnic violence has claimed at least 150 lives. The Opposition demanded that the Prime Minister make a statement on the issue, while the government offered a debate with a reply from the Union home minister. Protests by the Opposition have led to adjournment in both houses. The monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to run until 11 August.

New Delhi Both Houses of Parliament could not function again on the second day of the Monsoon session amid an intense tussle between the Opposition and the Union government over the situation in Manipur, where raging ethnic violence over the last 80 days has claimed at least 150 lives and displaced thousands.

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On Friday, while the Opposition — or the INDIA alliance partners — stuck to its demand that the Prime Minister make a statement on the floor of the House on the issue, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh accused the Opposition parties of not being “serious” about discussing the Manipur situation.

“I can see a few political parties are unnecessarily creating a such situation that in no way a discussion on Manipur can take place. I want to level allegation that the Opposition is not as serious on the Manipur issue as it should be. I reiterate that a discussion on Manipur should be held and I also want the opposition to be more serious about it,” Singh said in the Lok Sabha. The government had indicated on Thursday that it was open for a debate with a reply by Union home minister Amit Shah, but the Opposition did not accept that stance.

The Trinamool Congress’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien responded to Rajnath Singh’s comments. “It’s BJP that’s stalling Parliament. Let’s start the discussion on Manipur on Monday at 11am sharp. Let the PM decide where he wishes to open the debate. His choice. Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. Every INDIA party will participate,” he said.

Matters have come to a head after a video from May 4 showed a mob stripping and parading two women near a village in the state, leading to a nationwide outcry. The horrific incident, an attack on a Kuki village by some members of the Meitei community (recorded in the FIR) amid ethnic violence between the two sides, also involved, gang rape, and murder. No action was taken until the video surfaced on social media on Wednesday.

On Friday, the Opposition resumed its protests in both Houses, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement, leading to adjournment in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. “Let @PMOIndia make a ‘Suo Motu’ statement on @Manipur reflecting on the central theme that the ‘double engine’ failed the people and communities therein. Which should then be followed by a discussion in both the houses reassuring the people of #Manipur. That is what INDIA wants,” Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha tweeted.

To be sure, the PM spoke on Manipur for the first time while addressing the media outside the House on Thursday morning, saying he was pained and angered by the incident, and that the guilty would “not be spared”.

Congress president and the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, tweeted: “@narendramodi ji, you did not make a statement inside the Parliament, yesterday. If you were angry then instead of making false equivalence with Congress-governed states, you could have first dismissed your chief minster of Manipur. INDIA expects you to make an elaborate statement in the Parliament today, not just on one incident, but on the 80-day violence that your government in the state and the Centre has presided upon, looking absolutely helpless and remorseless.”

Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha quoted an old tweet of PM Modi from 2017 that said “those who cannot ensure peace in the state have no right to govern Manipur” to demand a dismissal of the state government. Speaking outside the House, he added, “Manipur is burning & horrific videos have come to light. The government should hold discussion on it. Why is it running away?”

Later, at a press conference, Congress leader Pawan Khera said that in 2002, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee reminded him about his Raj Dharma as the Gujarat chief minister. Khera said, “He (the PM) needed to be reminded about his Raj Dharma again when Manipur is burning.”

In a statement issued by Congress leaders Khera and Pramod Tiwari, it has been said that “only hope was now left with the President Draupadi Murmu, who had reached that position after a long struggle and who can use her constitutional powers in the matter and dismiss the government there which is sad not because of what happened, but because the video of the incident became viral.”

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said, “We had categorically stated… (defence minister) deputy leader Rajnath Singh has categorically stated we are ready to discuss it both Houses. Manipur is a sensitive, humanitarian issue. That’s why we want to debate and Union home minister will give a detailed reply to the debate.”

A senior INDIA leader said that Opposition has conveyed its demand for reply or statement by the PM to the government managers a day before 26 parties met at Bengaluru on July 17 to launch the Opposition alliance.

On Friday, the grouping’s floor strategists worked overtime to ensure that the focus remains entirely on the Manipur issue. “A number of Opposition leaders including the Congress, TMC and Left had their private member bills in the House agenda. We spoke to all parties to continue our protests in the afternoon as well,” said a senior leader.

The Opposition parties are set to meet on Monday, and the logjam is expected to continue for at least another few days.

The monsoon session started on July 20 and is scheduled till August 11. The government plans to bring 31 bills including the data bill and clear key legislation such as replacing the Delhi ordinance.