Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 24: Leaders of many opposition parties protested outside the Parliament building on Monday and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the Manipur matter in the House.
In front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the Parliament complex, opposition parties sang anti-government slogans while holding placards and banners that read “INDIA for Manipur” and “INDIA demands PM’s statement on Manipur.”
Speaking to reporters, Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said it is the Prime Minister’s responsibility to deliver a thorough statement in Parliament regarding the violence in Manipur. “It is shameful that the prime minister is making a statement outside the House, when Parliament is in session. It is his duty to make a comprehensive statement inside Parliament on Manipur violence,” the Congress leader said.
“We are requesting the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of Lok Sabha that the PM should make a statement on the situation in Manipur. We want a discussion under Rule 167 but the Modi government wants a short duration discussion under Rule 176 for half an hour.We want under Rule 267 under which there can also be voting,” he said.
The Prime Minister should first make a statement and then we will have a discussion under Rule 267, he said. The Modi government and the BJP cannot run away from its constitutional duty and answerability on Manipur, Kharge added.
The opposition is unwavering in its demand for the Prime Minister’s response first, but the government has consented to allow a brief discussion on the Manipur issue with the Home Minister responding to it.
Because of the impasse between the opposition and the government over the Manipur issue, neither the Lok Sabha nor the Rajya Sabha have been able to do any work during the Monsoon Session.
