Amid opposition members giving adjournment motions in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Friday to discuss the Manipur developments, Mayawati, the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, called the political wrangling over it unjust and alarming. However, she also termed the procession of two nude women in Manipur as “shameful and heart-wrenching,”reported HS.
Earlier, Manickam Tagore, Manish Tiwari, and Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress gave adjournment motions in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, Aam Aadmi Party's Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha, RJD's Manoj Jha, Congress's Rajeev Shukla, Shakti Singh Gohil, Syed Nasir Hussain, Ranjit Ranjan, Pramod Tiwari, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi's Keshava Rao moved rule 287. These members have demanded that a discussion be held on the situation in Manipur and the Prime Minister should make a statement in the House.
It is worth mentioning that yesterday there was an uproar in both houses on the issue of Manipur. Due to this, the proceedings were adjourned for the day. In his statement before the monsoon session, the Prime Minister strongly condemned the indecency of two women in Manipur and assured strict punishment for the culprits. The government had assured the opposition that it was ready to hold a discussion on Manipur.
In the meantime, tensions rose in the Manipur hills on Wednesday as a video dated May 4 leaked showing two women from one of the warring villages being paraded naked by a few men from the opposing side. A day after the video was released, four persons were detained. “The atrocities committed by mobs on women in Manipur are very sad, shameful, and heart-wrenching,” Mayawati stated in a tweet in Hindi. 'State and federal governments should harshly punish such individuals to ensure that such horrible atrocities do not occur again,” she added.
“However, the politics surrounding this incident is both unfair and concerning. There must be a substantive debate on this in Parliament. The Supreme Court has also taken notice of this incident, which cannot be ignored. That means everyone must take the sad tragedy seriously,” Mayawati stated in another linked statement.
The supremo of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) said, “The entire country is concerned about the ongoing violence in Manipur. The newest act of obscenity towards women is particularly humiliating for the BJP and its government. Although the state's law and order situation has already deteriorated, will the BJP continue to protect such a chief minister'” she asked in a Hindi tweet.
Since May 3, ethnic confrontations have erupted in Manipur between the dominant Meitei group, which is concentrated in the Imphal valley, and the tribal Kukis, who live in the hills. So far, around 160 people have been killed in the violence.
Meanwhile, union minister Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Friday that the opposition parties wanted to make Manipur only a political issue and did not want a discussion on it. Demanding a discussion on the Manipur issue, the opposition demanded adjournment of the Question Hour when Lok Sabha proceedings began today.
At the behest of Speaker Om Birla, union minister Rajnath Singh once again assured on behalf of the ruling party that the government is ready for discussion on Manipur. He said that the Manipur incident is very sensitive, and the Prime Minister himself has condemned it and assured strict action. Despite this, the opposition parties do not want to discuss Manipur at all.
The Lok Sabha Speaker also said that Question Hour is an important time in parliamentary proceedings. Let there be a question hour. The government is ready to discuss Manipur, in which case the opposition should cooperate. Even after the appeal of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, members of the Congress and other opposition parties continued to raise slogans and create a ruckus. They remained adamant on the demand to stop all proceedings in Parliament and hold a discussion on the situation in Manipur. Amidst uproar, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings of the Lok Sabha till noon.
