By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally opened his mouth on Manipur violence in Lok Sabha on August 10 to reply the no-confidence motion brought by the opposition INDIA alliance, but only to expose himself to be sanctimonious – talking piously and giving assurances – in the backdrop of inaction and ‘complete breakdown of law and order and constitutional machinery in the state’ as Supreme Court of India has observed. Same is the feeling of the people of Manipur who have still been suffering.
Manipur violence erupted on May 3, 2023, and continues since under the double engine government of BJP in the state and the Centre, while PM is keeping mysterious silence, and the country needed no-confidence motion to make him open his mouth. Manipur was burning, while PM Modi was eulogizing himself and his government.
In the first 1:40 hrs he spoke, there was no Manipur Violence and the suffering of the people of the state. Opposition heard him with patience, all his self-grandiose and hypnotizing attempt by selling big dreams, waiting to hear him on Manipur. PM Modi got them frustrated by talking about everything else but not on Manipur Violence, which made INDIA alliance to stage a walkout after 1 hour 40 minutes of his speech.
The effectiveness of PM Modi’s shrewd political strategy is obvious, but he did not stop at that. He continued his speech which lasted about 2 hours 20 minutes. He continued with his self-grandiose while there was no opposition in the House, and Manipur was still burning. But at last, he came to the point, but for only about 10 minutes, and only for expressing his pious utterances and assurances for the people of Manipur, which seemed only sanctimonious as they were brought to mask the ground reality of putting grease to the communal fire in which Manipur burns sill now with complete breakdown of law and order for which, he tried to make it appear that his double engine government was not at all accountable.
Congress and the opposition INDIA alliance were attacked in PM Modi’s extensive speech, which was objected by them since PM was supposed to reply on the Manipur violence. The House became a scene, and the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was suspended for “misconduct”. Amid chaos in the House, when the opposition started walking out, PM Modi, after his 1:42 minutes, mentioned the name of Manipur for the first time.
Have the government at the Centre and the State become deaf, dumb, and blind? Does it require a High Court order to know what was happening in Manipur? What would be a better proof of the lie and incompetency of a prime minister, which in enshrined in his own speech!
“Yesterday, Amit bhai said that an order came from the high court of Manipur, which saw a sequence of events that led to violence in the state. Many families lost their loved ones. Terrible crimes were committed against women and this is condemnable,” he said.
It should a matter of shame that the PM needed the High Court of Manipur to see the sequence of events that led to violence in the state, especially if the government was not aware of it.
To lie is an act of utterance that conceals the truth the utterer already knows. What the PM said next reveals that even before the High Court of Manipur seeing a sequence of events that led to violence in the state, the Centre and the state governments have knowledge of it.
“To punish the perpetrators both central and state governments are trying their best,” PM Modi said. However, he did not explain, why and how “their best” efforts failed, and the Supreme Court of India had to declare complete breakdown of the law and order. Perhaps the “trying their best” was a lie, or else the government would have produced some evidence for it.
“I want to assure all citizens that all our efforts are underway and peace will soon be restored. Manipur will move forward with new atmavishwas (self-confidence) towards development soon,” PM Modi assured. The continuance of the Violence since May 3, even today one day after the speech, shows the hollowness of the assurance. Though he repeated, “I want to tell Manipur that we are trying out best to ensure Manipur moves towards peace soon.”
“The country was shocked by the lies spread by the opposition about the situation in Manipur,” PM Modi alleged while referring to the statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah made in the Parliament on the previous day. “If they had agreed to Shah’s requests, we could have had a good discussion.”
What exactly he said in these words, was absent in PM Modi’s first one hour and 42 minutes of his speech, which betrayed his real intention. Not even mentioning Manipur, during this time when the opposition was present in the House, reveals the contrary. Had he wanted a good discussion, he would have come to the point straight forward, with clean and open heart, without steeping his words in murky politics full of self-grandiose only.
He then made a sharp attack on the opposition by saying, “We had said come and discuss Manipur, the home minister even wrote a letter. But they had no intention or courage… .”He himself did not mention Manipur in his speech while the opposition was present in the house long enough, which was nothing but a political strategy, but he said that Shah’s speech on Wednesday continued for over two hours and was a detailed reply on Manipur “without any politic” that took into account “the concerns of the citizens and the government”.
Avoiding the present burning situation and complete failure of law and order under his double-engine government, he put the onus on Congress. He said, “Manipur’s problems are being presented as if these problems have started recently. … the genesis of the problems in Northeast is Congress. It is not the people of the North East but the Congress’s politics that is responsible for this.”
The date of the present eruption of Manipur violence was May 3, 2023. Complete breakdown of law and order had occurred after that. How can Congress be blamed for failure of BJP led state and Centre governments? Even if the allegation of the genesis of the problem is correct, it is no answer to the majority communal politics that BJP has been doing in Manipur or elsewhere that has been continuously adding fuel to the fire. PM Modi cannot, and must not, shift his or BJP governments’ responsibility on the parties who have formerly ruled the country.
PM Modi was supposed to make speech on Manipur violence since May 3, but he tried to present the history of Manipur with the colour of Hindu majoritarian politics of the BJP-RSS clan in the form of an alibi. Such an excuse cannot absolve PM Modi from responsibility and accountability on continuing Manipur Violence, even after his speech and assurance for action.
He targeted opposition by saying, “Those who don’t believe in democracy are ready to speak but not listen. If you speak the truth they leave. They throw garbage and run away, they spread lies and run away. The country has no hopes from them.”But it was also a lie, since opposition was there during his first 1 hour and 40 minutes but he has not time to even mention Manipur. He says he was speaking the truth, but it is a fact that his truth had nothing to do with Manipur violence, while the opposition was present in the House. (IPA Service)
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