India News | Opposition Parties in India Not Mujahideen but 'Marjeevade' or Living Martyrs: Congress

New Delhi, Jul 25 (PTI) The Congress Tuesday said the ethnic strife and the situation in Manipur cannot be compared with stray incidents of crimes against women in other states and it warrants a comprehensive discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a statement in Parliament.

The Congress also said the opposition parties under the INDIA alliance are "living martyrs" of democracy.

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It does not behove persons in the prime minister's position to speak in a manner comparing the INDIA alliance with the East India Company or the Indian Mujahideen, the party said.

Addressing a joint press conference, Congress leaders Manish Tewari and Naseer Hussain said the grave situation in Manipur warrants that the prime minister makes a statement in both houses of Parliament.

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The Congress has been making the demand right from the start of the Monsoon session of Parliament last Thursday.

It is a well-settled and time-honoured parliamentary tradition that in matters of critical public importance, the prime minister makes a statement in both houses of Parliament. The deeply concerning scenario unfolding in Manipur is a highly topical issue, they said.

Terwari said, "As we have pointed out for the last three or four days, the reason why we are insistent that the prime minister must address both houses of Parliament on the question of Manipur is because of the sensitivity and the depravity that Manipur has unfortunately witnessed in the last 78 to 80 days."

"Under these circumstances, we are steadfast in our demand and as I pointed out that in a democracy, all instrumentalities, which are available under the Parliamentary rules, always remain open," he told reporters when asked if they would move a no-confidence motion against the government.

"The opposition parties in India are not Mujahideen, but are 'Marjeevade' (living martyrs) to save democracy in the country," he asserted.

He said the trouble in Manipur started on May 3 and the situation became worse with each passing day while the prime minister maintained a "deafening silence".

"While the MPs and the public were keenly waiting for the prime minister's statement in the House, he ignored the Parliament, as is typical of him, much less making any statement in the House.

"He made a customary statement to the media outside Parliament while referring to the horrific video from Manipur," Tewari said.

The prime minister speaking about Manipur outside the House a few minutes before the Monsoon Session commenced is an instance of grave parliamentary impropriety, the Congress leader said.

This impropriety has been further aggravated by his not uttering a word on Manipur in Parliament, he claimed

"The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, other leaders and MPs have been justifiably demanding a statement by the prime minister in the House on the Manipur issue which has assumed frightening proportion with a tendency to adversely impact our Indian democratic polity," Tewari said.

Hussain said the BJP is raising stray incidents of atrocities against women in other states like Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, "but such incidents are not comparable to the situation in Manipur".

He said the BJP, which is now stonewalling the very suggestion of the prime minister making a statement in the House, have very conveniently forgotten about similar demands made by them in the past.

The deeply painful and horrible situation in Manipur has now blown up into a highly emotive issue and the entire nation is deeply concerned. Therefore, this situation warrants a discussion under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha, Hussain said.

The Congress leader said the government is adamant about preventing a detailed discussion in Parliament on such a critical issue, "needless to state that the Manipur issue is most critical and needs to be discussed immediately and comprehensively".

The government is bent upon creating an "erroneous narrative" that while they are prepared for a discussion on the Manipur issue as a short-duration discussion, the Opposition is not forthcoming, he said.

Hussain accused the government of concealing the fact that they are not prepared for a discussion on the Manipur issue under Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha and as an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha.

Had they been really keen on a meaningful discussion in the House, they should have agreed to a discussion on this issue under Rule 267, he said.

"Agreeing to a short-duration discussion is nothing but a dubious ploy on their part to dilute the discussion and avoid scrutiny on the issue," Hussain alleged.

The Congress leader claimed that in the last six years, every notice by the Opposition to discuss an urgent national issue has been outright rejected.

The last time such a notice was allowed was in 2016 when the House discussed demonetisation, he said.

Hussain said during the tenure of Shankar Dayal Sharma as Rajya Sabha chairman, he allowed four discussions between 1990 and 1992, Bhairon Singh Shekawat admitted discussions under the rules on three occasions in 2004 while and Hamid Ansari allowed four discussions between 2013 and 2016.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)