Insult to Manipur: Congress on BJP ‘not allowing’ its MP to speak in Parliament

IMPHAL: The Congress slammed the BJP for “not allowing” its own MP from Manipur and union minister Ranjan Singh to speak in Parliament.

The Congress said that the act of the BJP to “not allow” it own MP from Manipur to speak in the Parliament, when the House duscussed the violence in the state was an ‘insult’.

“BJP MP from Manipur was not allowed to speak in Parliament even after requesting. This is not only unfortunate but an insult to the entire Manipur,” senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.

“It is shameful for the BJP to stop its own MP from Manipur and minister of state for external affairs from speaking at such a time,” he added.

Furthermore, the Congress also accused the BJP of “insulting the Army” on the Manipur issue.

“Is our army, in the eyes of the BJP, a violent army that kills civilians? Doesn’t the BJP know that since 1956, on 49 occasions, the Indian Army has established peace in many countries of the world,” Pawan Khera said.

Khera made this statement while reacting to a remark by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on the use of Army in Manipur.

“Should the Army open fire on civilians (in Manipur),” Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had questioned while reacting to a remark by Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament that the Army can end violence in Manipur withing a couple of days.

Meanwhile, Lorho S Pfoze, Naga People’s Front (NPF) MP from the Outer Manipur constituency, told The Hindu that he had wished to speak on Manipur in the House during the debate on the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition, but was “advised informally by his friends in the alliance, particularly the BJP, not to speak on the issue”.