If Manipur is burning, entire India is in flames: Cong slams PM silence

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Congress on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Modi of taking a "vow of silence" on issues such as the ethnic violence in Manipur and Chinese incursions, and said opposition parties were forced to bring a noconfidence motion to make him speak up.

Initiating the debate on the motion in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi posed three questions on Manipur -- why the PM had not visited Manipur, why it took 80 days to break the silence on the state and why he had not sacked the chief minister.

"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, PM Modi should come to the House and speak. However, he kept a 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) that he will neither speak in the Lok Sabha nor in the Rajya Sabha," the Congress MP from Assam said Gogoi also put forward three demands, saying the opposition wanted Modi to visit Manipur, lead an all-party delegation to the state and make sincere efforts for peace by meeting various organisations.

Listing reasons for Modi's silence, he alleged, "It was because the state government failed to deal with the ethnic violence and the Home Department and NSA failed to handle the situation."

The third reason for the PM's silence is that he does not like to accept his mistakes.''