At the end of the much-hyped ‘no-trust motion’… What did Manipur achieve? The Opposition brought the ‘no-trust motion’ to press Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to speak about the Manipur issue in Parliament.
A no-confidence motion is a parliamentary tool used by the Opposition to express its lack of confidence in the government. However, did politicians even care what Manipuris (both the Meiteis and Kukis) may have felt if they watched the monsoon session and especially the ‘no-trust motion’ when it was actually meant to discuss and deliberate the (literally) burning issues of the region.
However, given the reality of a session full of reported histrionics and rhetoric, the run-up to the ‘no-trust’ was the highlight and this had very little actual impact on the real ground zero affair of Manipur. The rape versus rape tussle also diluted the matter to a great extent… and the least said about the comparison of the scale violence in Manipur over the past decades and now actually did not help much.
The no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition missed the opportunity to provide a balm for the miffed Manipuris and also did the proceedings send a clear message to the shattered common people of the region? Also, nothing much was discussed on the Chief Minister N Biren Singh who still continues to be in office.
Political analysts feel the hype created by the Opposition was wasted as they did not use the important parliamentary tool of no-confidence motion to force a detailed discussion on the strife-torn Manipur, which has been burning now for the last almost four months. The Opposition, it is felt, lost an opportunity to make the government announce a decisive plan of action to put an end to the violence and take a concrete and the much-expected action to bring truce or at least an end to the strife.
In all the action in the Sansad, it was clearly seen that the Manipur issue was slipping away in the quicksand of the high-decibel speeches and some of which even sounded like a preparatory scripts for the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha.
The treasury bench and the Opposition hugely indulged in blame games and talked more about issues of other topics and at times Manipur took a back seat. The raging violence in the state and deepening divide between the Meiteis and Kukis—has only been adding more fuel to the volatility of Manipur.
Eventually, it looked like the Opposition threw the match away and allowed the ruling NDA prepare its stage for the 2024 Lok Sabha right from the heart of the Sansad and the Opposition actually cannot blame anyone else but themselves for this!
Their eventual walkout watered out the whole purpose of the no-trust. The no-confidence motion, the PM said, spoke not of the lack of confidence of the Opposition in the government, but about the lack of trust of discredited nay-sayers in the India story. Parties which were repeatedly rejected by the voters and blinded by corruption and arrogance, eclipsed by pessimism, the pre-eminence of dynasty and policies of appeasement, could not see India’s ‘samarthya’. “They failed to recognise”, PM said, that for the nation this is a time of possibilities, “haaron taraf sambhavnaein hi sambhavnaein”. He targeted the Congress and INDIA bloc as the ghamandiya gathbandhan’.
Finally, it is being seen as a situation where the (already) fragmented (?) Opposition – which, despite its new-found cohesivity is yet to bridge the gap between its regional partners – and could not keep their entire focus on Manipur and force the government in Parliament. When time came, it seemed that the Opposition became a soft target.
In the entire process of the session, nothing much was demanded in terms of stern action against CM N Biren Singh even as the people of Manipur and the entire country expected, especially the Opposition going hammer and tongs over the immediate sacking of the CM. But there was neither any indication of action against the CM nor an action plan to restore peace.
Around 6.45 pm, more than halfway through his over two hours-long speech, the PM addressed the people of Manipur: “I want to say to its people, to its mothers and daughters, desh aapke saath hai, sadan aapke saath hai… together we will find a solution”.
But by then where was the Opposition?
So, countrymen who were glued to their TV sets… have asked one final question… What did Manipur achieve after all?
Massive protest
Meanwhile, all said and done, on Sunday, a huge group of women from the Kuki-Zo community held a protest demonstration in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remark in Parliament.
Around 10,000 Kuki-Zo women participated in the sit-in-protest organised by the women’s wing of the Committee on Tribal Unity Sadar Hills (CoTU).
The protestors held placards with messages for Shah. Amit Shah needs to own his mistake, “Amit Shah needs to clarify his tongue slip in Parliament”, “We will pay a heavy price for Amit Shah’s tongue slip”, read the placards.
Amit Shah had in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday said problems started in Manipur with the influx of Kuki refugees from neighbouring Myanmar after the military rulers there started a crackdown against militants in 2021.
The Kuki refugees started settling down in the jungles in the Manipur valley, raising fears of a demographic change in the region, Mr Shah said.
The unrest in the Manipur valley began when rumours began to circulate that the refugee settlements have been declared as villages, Mr Shah said.
The protestors, in their placards, said their existence in the area predates British rule, when international boundaries were drawn in Manipur.
“We have a historical presence in Manipur preceding India’s independence”, one of the placards read.
The “Manipur mayhem” is a pre-planned ethnic cleansing of the Kuki-Zo people aimed at snatching their land against constitutional provisions, the protestors alleged in their message for Amit Shah.
“Amit Shah, your remark looks as if the Centre and the state are hands-in-glove in the ethnic cleansing”, a placard read.
Calling his remark “deeply troublesome”, they demanded accountability from the Home Minister.
“Instead of sacking Biren (Chief Minister N Biren Singh) you still defended him, what is your agenda?”, another placard read.
The protestors also raised slogans asserting their Indian identity, and condemning Amit Shah’s remark. They demanded justice, and a Constitutional solution.
(The writer is senior journalist and former senior associate editor, O Heraldo)
