'Taunts, Jokes & WhatsApp Talks': Oppn Slams PM Modi For 'Not Speaking On Manipur' In Lok Sabha

The BJP hailed PM Modi's speech, replying to the no-confidence motion as "enlightening" while the Opposition accused him of running away from his responsibilities.

The Opposition on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech replying to the no-trust motion against his government introduced in the Lower House of the Parliament.  While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party hailed the speech as "enlightning" and "historic", Opposition parties berated him for not speaking on Manipur. The no-confidence motion was brought by the Opposition against the Modi government over the issue of Manipur which has been witnessing ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kukis for over three months. 

The no-confidence motion was, however, defeated in the Lok Sabha as the ruling National Democratic Alliance enjoys a comfortable majority in the Lower House of the Parliament. 

'PM Modi's Speech Enlightening, Historic, And Inspiring'

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad hailed PM Modi's speech as "enlightening, historic and inspiring. Besides, his reply to Rahul Gandhi was also epic."

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also echoed same words saying the PM "gave brief replies to all the questions that they (Opposition) raised...Opposition didn't follow the decorum of democracy."    

"The Opposition has only one thought process and ideology. For them, the country is not important. Only the party and self are important for the Opposition. This has been proved today," said Union Minister and BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. 

Targeting Congress and the Opposition, NDA ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) chief and Union minister Anupriya Patel said that "power and politics are supreme to them." 

"Our colleagues in the Opposition don't believe in democracy. They brought No Confidence Motion, kept forth their points and demanded Prime Minister's presence in the House. They demanded for him to make a statement but they had no patience to listen to the statement. The entire country saw that power and politics are supreme to them. If they don't have the patience to even listen to the PM's address, it is very unfortunate. By walking out, they have exposed themselves before the country," she said. 

'Taunts, Jokes & WhatsApp Talks': Berates Opposition  

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge thanked PM for speaking on Manipur and condemned the suspension of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. "Thank you Prime Minister." 

"At last you spoke in the House on the Manipur violence. We are sure that the pace of restoration of peace in Manipur will be faster, people from relief camps will return to their homes. He will be rehabilitated, justice will be done to him."

"If you had given up your stubbornness and arrogance earlier, the valuable time of the Parliament would have been saved. Important bills would have been passed with good discussion," he said. 

The Opposition, however, fired salvo at the PM for his speech saying he did not speak on Manipur but mostly talked about the INDIA alliance. "We thought that PM Modi will speak on Manipur...But what did we see? Comments, jokes and Whatsapp talks... This was not expected from PM Modi," said Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha. 

Janata Dal (United) MP Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh said the speech was a sign of Modi's "desparation" and "nervousness". " He was expressing his nervousness due to the new alliance. He didn't say a word on the major issue of India that Manipur has been burning since May 3. We kept listening for 1 hour and 45 minutes but he didn't say a word about it. He kept talking about the new alliance," he said. 

All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi called the speech "boring" among all the speeches in the last nine years. 

"We thought he would condemn those who are doing violence in Manipur, we thought he would condemn the Haryana government's demolition drive...but nothing is happening there. Mughal-e-Azam is running there," he said. 

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, who introduced the motion in the Parliament staged a walkout during PM's speech saying the latter was running from his responsibilities.

"This no-confidence motion was presented by me in the Lok Sabha as member of I.N.D.I.A. alliance...After struggling for so many days, after so many difficulties, finally today the country is seeing PM Modi speaking in the Parliament...PM Modi is running away from his responsibility," he said. 

"There were three clear questions in front of him...Why is PM Modi so adamant about not visiting Manipur?... Why the Chief Minister of Manipur has not been expelled?... Why was silence maintained on Manipur for so many days?... Why was there no appeal for peace? The discussion is going on for the last two hours but we could not see justice for Manipur," he added. 

"The reason behind the no-confidence motion was Manipur where several women were raped, children were killed and several other incidents but PM didn't say anything about Manipur and didn't stand with the people of Manipur & that's why the opposition staged a walkout," said Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav.

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