Oppn may send team to Manipur even as logjam in Parliament continues

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the government was ready to discuss violence in the state

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the umbrella of 26 Opposition parties, could send a team comprising its parliamentarians and some chief ministers (CMs) of the states that its constituents rule to strife-torn Manipur.

The suggestion has gathered support from the affiliates of the alliance after what they term the government’s intransigence in discussing in Parliament the ethnic unrest in the Northeast state.
 

And — this is also to display their unity on crucial issues.
 

The parliamentary proceedings were washed out for the second day in succession on the Manipur issue on Friday. Opposition members demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation there, trooping into the well of the Lok Sabha with placards that read “INDIA wants reply, not silence” and “INDIA wants PM to speak in Parliament”. This was the first time placards carrying the name of an Opposition alliance appeared in the Lok Sabha. The government accused the Opposition of running away from a discussion.
 

Opposition sources said political parties such as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Bahujan Samaj Party, not currently part of INDIA, had promised support on crucial issues, including protesting the government’s intent to bring the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill to replace the contentious Delhi Services Ordinance and Manipur. They said the Patna and Bengaluru meetings of the Opposition and the joint strategy in Parliament showed robust unity among the constituents of INDIA, and a delegation of Opposition CMs visiting Manipur would bolster that.
 

In the Rajya Sabha, several Opposition members objected to the listing of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, saying they had expressed their views against the proposed legislation during the House’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting. The Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien sought to raise a point of order over the expunging of certain words from the House proceedings on Thursday.
 

In the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the government was ready to discuss Manipur violence. The Opposition insisted on the Prime Minister’s presence in the Lok Sabha. Parliament couldn’t transact any business on the first day of the Monsoon session on Thursday after a video of two women being paraded naked by a mob on May 4 in a Manipur village went viral, triggering a nationwide outrage.
 

On Friday, the Congress and some of its INDIA allies demanded that President Droupadi Murmu exercise her powers to dismiss the N Biren Singh-led state government. They also demanded the chief minister step down. The Congress said that a complaint on the horrendous atrocity perpetrated was made to the National Commission for Women on June 12, but no action was taken. On the sidelines of an event, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “This kind of incident hurts each one of us, and there is no word with which we can explain or address the issue.”

The perpetrators will have to be caught, and some have been arrested, she said.