Coming down heavily on the Opposition for not participating in the discussion on the Manipur issue and disrupting the Parliament, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the Opposition just shedding crocodile tears as they consider Manipur as a political issue.
“Opposition doesn’t want to participate in the discussion on the Manipur issue. Today when this issue was taken up in the Parliament, the opposition ran away from the discussion. Saddened by the behaviour of the opposition. Manipur is just a political issue for them (Opposition),” Nirmala Sitharaman said.
She said the government has agreed to discuss the Manipur ethnic violence in parliament, but the opposition has not allowed that to happen.
“They have been demanding discussion even under 176. The names of the Opposition leaders which are being followed in today’s list of business and for your sack, I recall the name: John Brittas, AD Singh, all respectable honarable members Professor Manoj Kumar Jha, Fouzia Khan, AA Rahim, Rajeet Ranjan, GC Chandrashekar, Phoolan Devi Netam, and Elamaram Kareem. They all are Opposition who wanted discussion under 176. Now on that 176 we have agreed and included all the names because they all wanted 176,” she said.
Opposition members have been seeking discussion under Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha since the beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament on July 20.
She further said, “These are decided by the Chair and if anyone wants to ask why not under 267? I want to highlight that 267 is if there is any sense of urgency, yes it is such a sense of urgency but obviously eight days have gone. People have gone to Manipur and have come back, they have heard from the people of the state. Now we are meeting and talking about it . Now won’t they want to speak and what they heard in Manipur?”
While Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar permitted a discussion for a “short duration” to be taken up on the situation in Manipur, the Opposition objected to it and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence in Parliament.
A group of MPs of the newly formed opposition grouping INDIA had visited Manipur for two days last week and interacted with people in relief camps.
“Whatever they have heard they should put all that in the House. Why you all are hesitating? Today it was proved that they were just shedding crocodile tears on the Manipur issue. If they genuinely cared, then they would have discussed it,” she asked Opposition who went Manipur.
Parliament has not been able to function since the start of the Session on July 20, with the Opposition also demanding a statement by Prime Minister Modi in the House on the crisis.
The Opposition even brought a no-trust motion last week, in a bid to compel Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on the Manipur issue within the Parliament.
However, both Houses adjourned for the day amid sloganeering by Opposition MPs over the unrest in Manipur. (ANI)
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