PM's statement disappointing : Cong
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 11 2023: The Opposition Congress party has decried that the statement given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament on Manipur crisis yesterday sounded childish and was rather disappointing.

Speaking to media persons at Congress Bhavan here today, AICC Steering Committee Member and former Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam remarked that the statement given by Narendra Modi at the end of a three-day debate on the Manipur crisis was rather disappointing.

Opposition parties led by Congress initiated a no confidence motion with the primary objective of eliciting the Prime Minister's response to the Manipur crisis and bringing a solution.

Opposition MPs raised several issues related to Manipur succinctly but the Prime Minister, instead of giving any concrete reply, chose to play blame game and made several irrelevant allegations against Opposition parties, Gaikhangam said.

The Prime Minister did not give any concrete reply to the many questions raised by Congress.

Instead, he only wasted time in the Parliament by making irrelevant allegations against Opposition parties, he said.

"As Manipuris, we were deeply hurt on seeing how Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the Manipur crisis in a very casual and unconcerned manner", Gaikhangam said.

Even though Manipur has been literally burning since May 3, the Prime Minister was not uttering a single word.

Narendra Modi did not pay any heed when people from across the country appealed to him to pay due attention to the Manipur crisis.

At last, BJP agreed to discuss the Manipur crisis as a half-hour discussion but Opposition parties rejected the proposal and initiated a no confidence motion.

It was only after the no confidence motion was initiated that the Prime Minister spoke on the Manipur crisis, said the AICC Steering Committee Member.

Although Narendra Modi gave a lengthy statement in the Parliament taking around two hours yesterday, he spared only around three minutes for the Manipur crisis.

Such limited reference to Manipur only exposed Narendra Modi's complete lack of concern for the Manipur crisis where many people have been killed and thousands of houses have been burnt down, Gaikhangam said.

Although tens of thousands of Central forces have been flown into the State, the violence has been lingering.

The Central Government has not yet done anything to resolve the crisis, he said.

Even though Prime Minister Narendra made a bold claim that there would be peace in Manipur soon, he did not table any action plan to restore peace in the State.

Neither did he seek support from political parties in the Government's proposed endeavour to bring peace in Manipur, Gaikhangam said.

MPCC president K Meghachandra said Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not give any convincing reply to the many issues raised by Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi.

As Narendra Modi did not mention the Manipur crisis even after speaking for about one hour and 40 minutes, Opposition MPs walked out of the House.

The Prime Minister did not give a single clear statement on the present Manipur crisis but he mentioned the bomb blast at ISKCON complex which took place several years back, Meghachandra said.

He then questioned whether Narendra Modi has any intention to seek vengeance on the people of Manipur for the ISKCON bomb blast.

He further asked why the two MPs from Manipur including Minister of State, External Affairs Dr RK Ranjan did not speak a single word on the Manipur crisis in the Parliament.

There is also Rajya Sabha Member Leisemba Sanajaoba and a Lok Sabha Member elected on NPF ticket which is supporting the BJP Government, Meghachandra pointed out.

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