Manipur video: Opposition MPs demand PM Modi's statement in Parliament
New Delhi (PTI): A day after a video showing two women being paraded naked by some men in Manipur surfaced, several opposition MPs expressed concern over the situation in the violence-hit state and demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the matter.
As the Monsoon session of Parliament started, opposition leaders referred to the May 4 video of the heinous crime to say the situation in Manipur was unacceptable and accused the BJP governments in the Centre as well as the northeastern state of being unable to control the situation there.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "This incident is shameful for the whole country. It is very disturbing."
"We will raise the issue. We will be the voice of women who have faced violence in Manipur. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should make a statement to the people of the country through Parliament," she said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh accused the prime minister of being silent over the matter. "An insensitive and cruel leader is leading this country. Manipur is burning and Modi ji is silent," he said.
AAP MP Raghav Chadha said, "I am wearing black today to protest and stand in solidarity with the people of Manipur. The state is burning and the Union government is refusing to even acknowledge what is going on in Manipur."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said 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.
"Today, when I am standing by this temple of democracy my heart is full of pain and anger," he told reporters at the Parliament complex before the start of the Monsoon session amid criticism by opposition parties for not speaking on the ethnic violence in the BJP-ruled northeast state.
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha gave a notice in Rajya Sabha to discuss the Manipur issue by suspending House business.
"We request the prime minister to break his silence. If you do not break your silence it makes us feel that the state government is responsible for this situation. If the Parliament does not discuss the Manipur issue, what is this Parliament for?" he posed.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said the government was ready for a discussion on the situation in Manipur during the Monsoon Session of Parliament but termed a "caveat for disruption" the opposition's demand for a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.
The Manipur Police on Thursday arrested one of the main accused who was seen in a May 4 video of two tribal women being paraded naked and molested by a mob at a village in Senapati district, officials said.
They said several police teams were formed immediately after the video of the incident surfaced.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
