New Delhi: Days after he was reinstated in Parliament, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took forward the Opposition’s charge in the no-confidence debate Wednesday and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was not India’s saviour.
“A few days ago, I went to Manipur. Our PM didn’t go… not even to this day, because for him Manipur is not India. I used the word ‘Manipur’ but the truth is that Manipur does not exist anymore. You have divided Manipur into two. You have divided and broken Manipur,” said Gandhi, whose return to the House has strengthened the voice of the newly-formed 26-member Opposition alliance, INDIA.
In an impassioned speech, Gandhi highlighted the ruling government’s neglect of widespread ethnic clashes in the state between the valley-based Meiteis and the hill-based Kuki tribes.
Late Wednesday, Gandhi’s remarks relating to Bharat Mata in Manipur were expunged from House records on the orders of the Chair.
The House had erupted at Gandhi’s reference to “Bharat Mata” as it is a feminine personification of the country, central to the right-wing nationalistic and political narrative.
Amid the din, Gandhi likened Manipur to his own mother. “There is one mother sitting in the Lok Sabha today. And there is another mother that is Manipur…,” the Congress leader said.
The Wayanad MP also spoke about his experience with displaced people in two relief camps of the strife-torn northeastern state. “In one camp, a woman told me that her young son, her only child, was shot dead in front of her own eyes. She has nothing today, except a photo and the clothes on her back,” Gandhi said.
In another camp, the Congress leader added, a woman fell unconscious when he asked her why she was there.
He then berated the government for not sending the Indian Army to Manipur, which, he believed, could “restore peace in one single day”.
Gandhi also touched upon his experiences during his five-month, Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir march, Bharat Jodo Yatra – from September last year to January 2023 – saying his experience with the people of India had demolished his vanity.
“I did not know why I was embarking on that journey. I wanted to see India, understand it, and meet its country’s people. But I realised India was that thing for which I could die, and go to any jail of Modi ji,” Rahul said.
The three-day no-confidence discussion began Tuesday with a fierce debate over Manipur where ongoing ethnic clashes have claimed over 150 lives and driven thousands to relief camps.
The no-confidence motion, brought against the government to force a discussion on Manipur, will not affect the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which enjoys a strong majority in the Lok Sabha.
The Opposition has said the motion was “the last resort” as it would at least compel the House to thoroughly discuss a burning issue in the country – in this case Manipur – and force a reply from Modi.
Ever since the Monsoon Session started on 20 July, adjournments have been the order of the day because the ruling government would not give in to the Opposition’s demand for a detailed discussion on Manipur and a “comprehensive statement” by the Prime Minister.
The government offered a short-duration debate instead and an address by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, which the Opposition rejected.
On Tuesday, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi opened the debate, chiding Modi’s “maun vrat” over Manipur.
Gogoi asked the Prime Minister three questions – “1. Why did he not visit Manipur to date? 2. Why did it take almost 80 days to finally speak on Manipur and when he did speak it was just for 30 seconds? 3. Why has the PM not sacked the Manipur CM so far.”
The MP from Assam added that the Opposition’s INDIA bloc was compelled to bring the no-confidence motion. “This was never about numbers but about justice for Manipur… Manipur wants justice,” the MP said.
DMK MP T.R. Baalu said, “Minorities of Manipur have been killed ruthlessly… Two women were stripped, gang-raped and paraded naked on the streets of Manipur… The chief minister is helpless. The PM has not come to Parliament and he has not gone to the state. Whereas, INDIA parties went there and understood what had happened,” he added.
Trinamool Congress’s Saugata Roy said the central government was heartless. “They send delegations to West Bengal on any plea. But not one delegation has gone to Manipur where our brothers and sisters are dying… You have no compassion and that is why you have not gone to Manipur like other parties,” he said.
Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule demanded the resignation of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh during her speech, while Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav maintained the ethnic clashes in the state were “state-sponsored”.
On the government’s part, MP Nishikant Dubey reiterated what Modi had told colleagues at the BJP parliamentary party meeting in the morning. “The Prime Minister said this was not a motion to express distrust for the government, but it was an exercise for the Opposition to assess who was supporting whom,” Dubey told the House.
He also took a swipe at veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who was present in the House, saying she now had only two jobs – to set the son and to give “bhent” or gifts to the son-in-law.
#WATCH | BJP MP Nishikant Dubey says, "This No Confidence Motion has been brought. Why has this been brought? Sonia ji (Gandhi) is sitting here…I think she has to do two things – Bete ko set karna hai aur Damad ko bhent karna hai…That is the base of this Motion." pic.twitter.com/Gb40E2gfzu
— ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2023
Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the Opposition would regret bringing the no-confidence motion because it came at the “wrong time and the wrong manner”, given India’s current stature in the world.
Besides Rijiju, four other ministers – Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and Jyotiraditya Scindia – will participate in the debate, as will 10 more BJP MPs.
Manipur has dominated the Monsoon Session of Parliament since it opened on 20 July, with the Opposition adamant on a detailed discussion and a “comprehensive statement” from Narendra Modi.
The government held out and offered a shorter-duration discussion with an address by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, galvanising the Opposition to file the no-confidence motion. In such cases, the Prime Minister puts his reply before the House before the motion is taken up for voting.
The Centre is comfortably placed to win the vote as the BJP alone has 301 members of the current Lok Sabha strength of 539. The majority mark is 270.
The YSRCP (22 MPs) and BJD (12 MPs) are expected to back the government.
The Opposition INDIA bloc has 143 MPs and will be supported by K. Chandrashekar Rao’s BRS, which had separately filed a no-confidence notice other than the Congress. The BRS has nine MPs.
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