The 26-party Opposition INDIA alliance on Thursday decided to send a multi-party delegation of MPs to Manipur over the weekend after moving a no-confidence motion against the BJP government in an effort to keep the matter alive and put more pressure on the administration before the no-trust motion’s discussion in the Lok Sabha.
In response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s onslaught on them in Rajasthan, the parties also retaliated.
The choice to send a delegation to Manipur was made on the same day that the coalition experienced some minor friction over the Congress’ hasty move to submit a motion of no-confidence in the Lok Sabha without the support of other party MPs. Numerous parties voiced their displeasure to the Congress, which led Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the opposition party in the Rajya Sabha, to acknowledge that the error could have been prevented.
It’s interesting to note that while the 26 parties are fighting the government together, senior Congressman Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Congress was engaged in an ideological conflict with the BJP. “There is an ideological fight in the country. On one side is the ideology of the RSS and BJP, and on the other is the ideology of the Congress. There are many parties, there are parties in the Opposition… but the ideological fight that is on in the country… that is between the ideologies of the RSS-BJP and that of the Congress,” he said at a Youth Congress function.
Aside from that, the opposition MPs coordinated their actions on Thursday, arriving in Parliament in black attire as a sign of protest against the government’s refusal to grant their demand for a suo motu speech by Modi on the Manipur crisis, followed by a thorough discussion.
According to sources, the Congress leadership has invited Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi, the party’s deputy leader, to join the group that would visit Manipur over the weekend. It has been requested that each party submit one representative. While the NCP intends to send its Rajya Sabha member Vandana Chavan, the DMK has nominated Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi. N K Premachandran, an RSP member, will also be a member of the delegation.
The majority of the opposition parties urged that an all-party delegation be dispatched to Manipur to show support for the state’s citizens during the all-party meeting that Home Minister Amit Shah called last month to discuss the Manipur crisis.
The protests by the opposition parties went on as usual both inside and outside of Parliament. The parties also criticized Modi for making remarks outside of Parliament while he was not there. In the history of Parliament, according to Kharge, there has never been a “darker period than this” in the nation. “A government which did not come to the assistance of the distraught people of Manipur in the last 85 days is a blot on humanity,” he remarked.
“The Parliament is in session and the Prime Minister, instead of speaking on the floor of the House, is making speeches here and there, tarnishing democracy. The misdeeds of the Modi government cannot be erased by calling the Opposition parties names,” Kharge said. He also hit back at the BJP for poking fun at the Opposition for wearing black clothes.
“Only those having a mindset against Dalits, tribals and backward people can make fun of black clothes. For us, black is a symbol of protest and strength. Black colour is a symbol of justice and dignity. The people of Manipur deserve justice, peace and respect,” he said.
The Opposition parties also boycotted a meeting of the Rajya Sabha Business Advisory Committee in protest against Modi not making a statement on Manipur in Parliament.
In a scathing attack on Modi for not visiting Manipur so far, Rahul said: “When a state is burning… you may have thought that the PM will say something. That he will fly to Imphal… meet people there… but Narendra Modi is not going to Manipur… why is he not talking about Manipur…because Narendra Modi is the PM of a select few, he is the PM of the RSS…he has nothing to do with Manipur.”
“He knows that his ideology has set Manipur on fire… but he is not bothered about the sorrow and pain that Manipur felt… the women who suffered… he is not bothered and I can say with guarantee that he is not pained by the events that unfolded in Manipur… They will set Manipur on fire, set Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh… the entire country on fire… because they only want to be in power and nothing else… they don’t care about the pain that the country feels, they only want power,” he said.
“The RSS-BJP people do not feel any pain or sorrow… Because they do the work of dividing the country and they have been doing that for ages,” he said, addressing the Youth Congress meet in Bengaluru virtually.
Hitting back at Modi for his remarks in Rajasthan, Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh said: “The PM has all the time in the world to bunk Parliament just to duck debate on Manipur while hurling abuses and his brazen brand of lies at the Congress party in election rallies in Rajasthan and elsewhere. It is so pathetic that he will not even make a statement inside Parliament on the horrific tragedy that has all but destroyed Manipur.”
“Hello Mr Prime Minister Narendra Modi. You are at it again. Attacking us, attacking us with our new name INDIA…Jeetega Bharat. What has happened? The only response you can give is a negative one. Mr Modi, we have got you just where we wanted you to be. We wanted you to react. We wanted you to be negative and you are doing just that. And we will carry on spreading the word INDIA,” Trinamool Congress leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien said.
