The three-day debate on no-confidence motion set off with a fiery start on Tuesday with Congress MP and deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi initiating the debate on behalf of the India bloc, talked about ‘one India’ and alleged the central government was creating ‘two Manipurs,’ one living in the hills and the other in the valley.

The Congress sought to know why the Prime Minister of the country had not visited violence-hit Manipur in the last three months.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi questioned the Prime Minister’s silence over all the important issues that had happened in the country. 

Gogoi said, ‘When award-winning women wrestlers were protesting on the streets, the Prime Minister remained silent. When 750 farmers lost their lives during the agitation, the PM was silent. In 2020, when Delhi witnessed riots and a foreign leader was visiting India, the Prime Minister remained silent.’

‘When we questioned the government on incursions by China, the Prime Minister remained silent. When a former lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir said he had sought protection for the soldiers in Pulwama but was turned down, the PM remained silent,’ Gogoi said, adding that the opposition is bringing the no-confidence motion to make the PM speak up at least on Manipur violence. 

‘After that, there has been no peace appeal on Manipur violence from the PM. His Ministers are saying they will speak on the issue, but as the Prime Minister, the power of his words cannot be matched by ministers. If PM Modi takes a step to ensure peace, it will carry more weight than that of a minister or an MP,’ Gogoi said. 

‘When polls were approaching and you needed to do your politics in Gujarat, you changed the chief minister there, not once, but twice. Ahead of the elections in Uttarakhand, you changed the state chief minister probably four times. A change was made in Tripura too. Why have you reserved special blessings for the Manipur chief minister, who has himself accepted that there was an intelligence failure because of him,’ the MP questioned. 

The Congress MP said the opposition had moved the no-confidence motion not for numbers, but to get justice for Manipur. 

‘If Manipur is burning, entire India is burning, if Manipur is divided, the country is divided. It was our demand that as the leader of the country, Prime Minister Modi should come to the House and speak about Manipur. However, he kept a ‘maun vrat‘ (vow of silence) that he will neither speak in the Lok Sabha nor in the Rajya Sabha. Through the no-confidence motion, we want to break his vow of silence,’ he added.

‘When people were gasping for breath during the second wave of Covid, the Prime Minister was seeking votes in West Bengal. When women were being assaulted in Manipur, the PM was seeking votes in Karnataka. What kind of nationalism is this that places power above the nation,’ Mr Gogoi asked.

Day 2 of No-Confidence Debate in Parliament

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke for the motion on the second day, after he decided not initiate the debate on day one.

Gandhi said ‘Bharat Mata ki hatya aapne Manipur mein ki’ (You killed Bharat Mata in Manipur),

‘Bharat ek awaaz hai, Bharat hamari janta ki awaaz hai, dil ki awaaz hai. Uss awaaz ki hatya aapne Manipur mein ki. Iska matlab Bharat Mata ki hatya aapne Manipur mein ki (India is a voice, India is the public’s voice, you killed the voice of India in Manipur. This means you killed Mother India in Manipur.)

‘You are a traitor, you are not a patriot,’ Gandhi thundered.

Union minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani hit back at Gandhi’s statement on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the NDA government and said ‘You are not India, for India is not corrupt.’

Irani retorted ‘You are not India because you define corruption and dynastic politics, retorts. India believes in merit not in dynasty and today of all the days people like you need to remember what was told to the British – Quit India. Corruption Quit India, Dynasty Quit India. Merit now finds place in India.’

‘Manipur is not divided, it is an integral part of India,’ Irani said in response to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that the state has broken into two parts.

‘Bharat maa ki hatya ki baat karne wale kabhi bhi mez nahi thapthapate. Congressiyo ne baith kar maa ki hatya ke liye mez thapthapaai hai… (Entire country has seen Congress leaders clapping and thumping desks when Rahul Gandhi spoke of the death of mother India).’

Irani also dubbed Gandhi ‘misogynistic’ for allegedly blowing a ‘flying kiss to Parliament that seats female members’ adding that the action ‘lacks dignity.’

Irani said, ‘I object to something. The one who was given the chance to speak before me displayed indecency before leaving. It is only a misogynistic man who can give a flying kiss to a Parliament which seats female members of Parliament. Such undignified conduct was never before seen in the Parliament of the country…’

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said, ‘Rahul Gandhi asked some very pointed questions to the government about complete inaction and mishandling of Manipur. The government is not addressing those questions. This is the classic tactic (strategy) of the BJP. Every time we raise pointed issues, they always try to divert it by going back to events that happened in history or talking about things that have no connection.’

Meanwhile, NDA women MPs had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding strict action against Gandhi alleging him of ‘making an inappropriate gesture’ and ‘displaying indecent behaviour in the House.’

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday said, ‘I was at the visitors gallery and he (Rahul Gandhi) did it as a gesture of affection. They (BJP) can’t accept love.’

Union Minister & BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje said ‘This is the first time we have seen such behaviour from an MP in the House. He made a gesture of a flying kiss at women MPs in the House….It is unacceptable. We have complained to the Speaker to take action against him.’