PM refusing to resolve Manipur crisis: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government wants Manipur to “continue to burn” because it is not using “instruments” at its disposal to bring normalcy back in the violence-torn border state.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

Addressing a press conference a day after the Prime Minister replied to the debate on no-confidence motion — which was defeated in the Lok Sabha — Gandhi said, “It will take the Indian Army two days to put an end to the nonsense that is going on in Manipur. The Prime Minister refuses to stop the fight. He wants Manipur to burn, he allows Manipur to burn because if he did want it to stop, there are tools in the hands of the Indian government that can stop it, immediately, I know. I have full faith in our army, I know and every Indian citizen knows, that if the Indian Army is told, please put an end to this, it will stop (violence) immediately.”

The Congress, and other opposition parties that are part of the INDIA grouping, walked out 97 minutes into the PM’s 133 minute speech, just before he started speaking on Manipur. The alliance has said it brought about the no-confidence motion to force the Prime Minister to speak on the issue.

Gandhi claimed that the government has options but it is not using them to stop the ethnic violence in Manipur that has already claimed 152 lives.

“I am not asking for anything, please don’t misunderstand. It is not my place to decide which tool the Prime Minister can use, which instrument he should use. I am pointing out that there are multiple instruments that the Prime Minister has at his disposal and he is not using a single one,” he said.

In his intervention in the no-confidence debate, Gandhi had asked why the government is reluctant to deploy the army in Manipur.

During the debate, Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday gave an elaborate reply on Manipur and cited data to show how the violence is declining.