Opposition leaders meet at Kharge's chamber in Parliament, demand PM's statement in House on Manipur

PTI

New Delhi, July 20

Leaders of the INDIA alliance met at the chamber of Mallikarjun Kharge in the Parliament complex on Thursday to chalk out a strategy for the Monsoon session and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on Manipur violence in both Houses followed by a discussion.

This was the first meeting of the opposition alliance of 26 parties after they named their grouping INDIA at a meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, demanded that Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh be sacked and President's rule be imposed in the ethnic violence-hit northeastern state.

The monsoon session of Parliament began on Thursday.

Several leaders of the Congress and other opposition parties had given adjournment notices in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha for taking up discussion on Manipur and have demanded answers from the government.

Kharge also gave an adjournment notice on the matter.

He said it has been nearly 80 days since ethnic violence erupted in Manipur but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has neither visited the state nor spoken a word on the situation there.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "The demand of the 26-party grouping INDIA is very clear. The prime minister should make a statement on the horrific and tragic developments in Manipur since May 3, in both Houses of Parliament, after which there should be a discussion. This is the first order of business."

Kharge also took to Twitter to say, "Manipur is burning. Women are raped, paraded naked and horrific violence is taking place. But the prime minister has kept quiet for so long." "Today, after so much outrage, he made a statement outside the Parliament. We want a detailed discussion on Manipur and PM Modi should make an elaborate statement on the same in the House.

"We also demand the immediate resignation of the Manipur chief minister and imposition of President's Rule," the Congress president said.

He also raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha and demanded that a discussion on the situation in Manipur be taken up with Prime Minister Modi making a statement on the matter.

Several opposition leaders raised the Manipur issue and demanded that the prime minister makes a statement in both houses of Parliament.

Both houses failed to transact any business on the first day of the Monsoon session as opposition parties raised an uproar over the Manipur violence.

Kharge earlier said the prime minister "has time to visit France, the United States. He has time to call 38 parties (NDA meeting), but did not have the time to visit Manipur though he has all the resources." "Modi government and the BJP have changed democracy and the rule of law into Mobocracy by destroying the delicate social fabric of the state, the Congress president tweeted.

"Narendra Modi ji, India will never forgive your silence. If there is any conscience or an iota of shame left in your government, then you should speak about Manipur in the Parliament and tell the nation what happened without blaming others for your dual incompetence -- both at the Centre and the state," he added.

Opposition parties have been questioning the silence of the prime minister on the Manipur situation ever since ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state on May 3.

Before the start of the Monsoon Session, Prime Minister Modi told reporters at the Parliament complex that the incident of women being paraded naked in Manipur has shamed 140 crore Indians, asserting that the law will act with its full might and no guilty will be spared.

Among the leaders who had given notices demanding discussion on the Manipur issue, include Kharge, Naseer Hussain, Manish Tewari, Jothimani of the Congress, Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nama Nageswara Rao of the BRS.

"After the House was adjourned as all the parties of the INDIA alliance wanted the prime minister to make a statement in the Lok Sabha on Manipur...

"Just saw in Gate 4 BJP MP who is accused of molesting women wrestlers entering the Parliament complex. A few steps away PM Modi in the morning gave a lecture on women security. Double standard is in the DNA of BJP," said Congress whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore.  

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