‘5-Minute Band Aid for Manipur Mayhem’

 

‘5-Minute Band Aid for Manipur Mayhem’

The fire ignited in Manipur on 3 May 2023 is not doused even after 100 days. Manipur, a sensitive north-eastern Indian border State is burning since then.  It is an ethnic violence; a civil war between the majority community meities, who are predominately Hindus and largely live in the capital Imphal and the prosperous valley around it, and the minority community, mainly Christian Kuki-Zo who live in scattered settlements in the Hills. Some 200 people died, hundreds injured, more than 400 churches destroyed; about 60,000 people displaced, becoming refugees in their own state. Women were paraded naked, raped and murdered- the most heinous barbaric crimes, unimaginable in a civilized nation. And yet the Head of the Union Government, refused to utter a word on the violent situation in Manipur, while his Ministers resort to whataboutery.

 

The Indian Parliament was in session from July 20. The opposition parties have been demanding that the Prime Minister come to Parliament and make a statement on the situation in Manipur and the action taken, followed by a full-fledged discussion by suspending the question hour and all other business to find a solution and restore faith and trust of the people of the strife-torn state. What is need is a bipartisan approach and healing touch. And with the Prime Minister refusing to attend even the Parliament and keeping studied silence on the situation in Manipur, a no confidence motion against the Modi government was moved by the Congress Party’s Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi on 26 July, supported by the 26-opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A to force him to come to the House and speak on Manipur. The Speaker Om Birla admitted the motion.

 

Though the Rule 198 of the House gives 10 days’ time to discuss the motion, as a parliamentary convention no other business is transacted until the motion is disposed of.  But the government, instead of taking up the motion for debate immediately, made use of the timeline and went on introducing and getting the vital Bills passed in the din without discussion, and in the absence of opposition, in gross violation of established practices and procedures, even bypassing the standing committees of Parliament.

 

The motion of no confidence was taken up for debate on 8 August, on the day incidentally Rahul Gandhi, principal national opposition leader, who was disqualified following a local court in Surat convicting him in a criminal defamation case relating to Modi surname and sentencing him to two years imprisonment, resulting in his disqualification from the membership of Lok Sabha, was reinstated as a member representing the constituency of Wayanad. The Supreme Court of India had to intervene to stay his conviction, upheld by the sessions court and the High Court of Gujarat, stating that the trial court had given him the maximum sentence of wo years imprisonment without giving any reason.

 

Opening the debate, Gaurav Gogoi, MP from Assam, wanted to know why Modi has been silent for on Manipur when the state is burning and why the Chief Minister Biren Singh is not sacked for his utter failure to control the situation. He said: “If Manipur is burning then India is burning. If Manipur is divided, India is divided… the double-engine government has failed.” 

Rahul Gandhi, opening the debate, the next day 9 July, charged the Modi government “of murdering Bharat Mata (Mother India) in Manipur…I say Manipur, but the truth is there is nothing of Manipur left. You have divided Manipur into two parts…In Manipur, they (BJP) have murdered Hindustan. Their politics killed Hindustan in Manipur. India is a voice of the people. You killed that voice in Manipur. You have sprinkled kerosene everywhere. You have set fire to Manipur you are now trying the same thing in Haryana” (Economic Times 10/8).  The Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke for more than two hours, listing the so-called achievements of the Modi government since 2014 and blamed the Manipur High Court for triggering the violence. He defended the Chef Minister of the State focusing on whataboutery, blaming the past Congress governments.

 

On the third day of the debate, 10 July, Modi made a speech that lasted two hours and thirteen minutes, out of which he spent an hour and 50 minutes making blistering attack on the Congress and the Gandhi Family, even accusing them of borrowing Gandhi surname. It is amazing the Prime Minister is so vulnerable and insecure that he needs foot soldiers to defend and protect him from his principal political rival. He attacked and denounced the opposition alliance INDIA, calling it a GAMANDIA party. He tried to drive a wedge in the Opposition ranks through insinuations.  It is shocking that the Prime Minister of India- the largest democracy in the world- could make such a speech.

 

At the press conference on 11 July, castigating Modi for his speech on the motion of no confidence, Rahul Gandhi said:” Narendra Modi laughed, cracked jokes and led a chorus of slogans from the BJP benches. ignoring that the issue being discussed was the violence, killings and rape of women in Manipur…when I saw the PM laughing and cracking jokes, I could not understand how the PM of India could speak like this…the PM should not speak like a petty politician…And watching the PM talking about Congress, the Opposition, this really does not do justice to an Indian PM. There is a complete misunderstanding in the mind of Narendra Modiji about what the Prime Minister of India is. This is not about Rahul Gadhi, this is not about the Congress, this is not about the Opposition parties, this is about India…The Prime Minister has multiple instruments in his hands, He is not using them, and the State is burning for four months, he is doing nothing. He is sitting in the middle of Parliament and laughing.”

 

And finding Modi's jibes at the opposition so brutal, hurting and humiliating, and his long excruciating speech not touching the Manipur issue, even after an hour and forty minutes into his speech, the entire opposition walked out in protest. Only after that he made a brief mention of Manipur, endorsing what Amita Shah said the previous day about the situation in Manipur. He did not answer the issues raised by the opposition. Nor did he offer any healing touch to the people of Manipur. Instead, he went on claiming achievements of his government, during the past 9 years and 3 months, which are highly questionable, and listing alleged failures and scandals of the Congress governments, right from Pandit Nehru to Manmohan Singh.  He presented a picture, as if India was zero until he came on to the scene in 2014. This is self-flattering, devoid of grace and dignity of the office he is holding.

 

It is surprising the mainstream newspapers- The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Hindu- didn’t find anything objectionable in Modi’s personalized attack on Gandhis and his denouncing the opposition parties. Instead, they endorsed his speech as a great rebuttal of the opposition charges against his government. The entire electronic media and its so-called expert panelists are full of praise for his record-breaking speech and his art of turning tables on opposition. They are so partisan that makes them blind to Modi’s multiple failures, his divisive politics and his authoritarianism that destroyed the independent democratic institutions. To them, Modi is a charismatic and most popular leader, who is infallible and has no rival to replace, no matter what unpalatable language he uses against his political opponents and how provocative and offensive his speeches are. This is how the media has surrendered its role of being a responsible fourth estate in democratic India.

 

However, The Free Press Journal the front-page Headline 5-Minute Band Aid for Manipur Mayhem (11/8) is quite striking. It reads: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi dispensed with the issue of Manipur violence in just five minutes. This was a small segment in his political reply to the no trust motion that lasted two hours and 13 minutes. Predictably, the motion which was largely ignored by the Prime Minister was rejected by a voice vote (after the opposition walked out) and turned into an uninterrupted monologue…The Prime Minister spoke on the turmoil in the north-eastern state, 12 minutes after the Opposition walkout...It is possible that he was forced to say a few words about Manipur only after the Opposition walked out from the House.”

 

And The Telegraph online editorial (12/23) called Modi's speech Tiresome bluster. The editorial goes on: "The admirers of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, have an unenviable ability to miss the proverbial woods for the trees. There has been much gloating about Mr. Modi delivering the longest-ever speech by any Prime Minister in a no confidence motion debate. But the truth of the matter is that oratory is not judged by its volume: it is to be assessed by its depth and reflection. During his speech, Mr. Modi, as is his wont, sputtered whataboutery, sundry inanities and tiresome cliches...It was natural that India and INDIA were keen to hear Mr. Modi's views on a subject of national concern. Bu Mr. Modi thundered to deceive once again...The hollow rhetoric was, of course accompanied by meaningless fire and brimstone hurled at the Opposition."

In an unpreceded move the leader of the Congress – the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha – Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was suspended, after defeating the no trust motion, for allegedly insulting Modi. In fact, Modi, speaking after him, made fun of him for his party not fielding him to participate in the debate on the motion and made no objection for his remarks. The Speaker applied double standard when it came to the opposition leaders. He found no objection in all that offensive language the Prime Minister used to attack the Congress, the Gandhis and the opposition. He expunged the so-called ‘objectionable’ words of Choudhury’s speech and yet he suspended him, till such time the privilege committee of the House inquires into his alleged misconduct and submits report. This is the first time that in the history of Parliament that the floor leader of the largest Opposition party has been suspended from the House.

 

If the ruling party continues to be so intolerant and hostile towards the opposition and does not recognise and allow the opposition to play its legitimate constitutional role in a parliamentary democracy, democracy in India may not survive. And if the Parliamentarians are not allowed the freedom of expression even in the Parliament, it is the end of democracy. The battle lines are clear. It is up to the people of India to decide what type of government they want to have next year and which direction they want India to take.