Double-engine has failed: Opposition women MPs target Govt on Manipur issue

DMK’s Kanimozhi said despite the heavy security blanket in Manipur — the state, she noted, has the highest police-population ratio in India and has 161 companies of Central forces — the “government has failed to control the situation”.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal said it is sad that the Opposition had to bring a no-confidence motion to discuss the situation in Manipur in Parliament and asked why the national minority commission has not visited the state yet.

Ghosh Dastidar said, “All speakers from the Treasury benches have proved that they are not bothered about Manipur. They have not spoken about Manipur. They were just beating the government’s drum.”

She claimed that Manipur has shown that the “double-engine formula” has failed completely. “Women have been tortured and raped (in Manipur); they have been pulled by their hair and their throats were slit. There were two girls hiding in a car wash (garage). They were dragged out and gang-raped…. All this was glossed over by this government. The Internet was blocked in the state; the media was so manipulated that the nation hardly got any information until we (Opposition leaders) went there,” the TMC leader said.

Claiming that Manipur has been thrown into a civil war-like situation and a government unable to control it must not continue, Ghosh Dastidar asked, “How are M16 and sophisticated grenades and SLRs getting into the hands of the common people? These freely available weapons are going to move across the Northeast and may reach other states.”

She said, “The Prime Minister must come and answer these questions rather than (Treasury benches) giving a report card of (government’s) performance.”

Kanimozhi said it is a matter of shame that the Supreme Court had to intervene to save Manipur and maintained that the “double-engine had become a double-edged weapon” in Manipur. Talking about the video of two women being paraded naked in the state, she slammed the “silence of the Centre, of the Prime Minister, and the inaction of the state government even as houses were burnt, police armoury looted, people killed each other, women were humiliated, stripped, paraded, raped, violated…. The double-engine (government) just stood watching.”

She also criticised the National Commission for Women and the state women’s commission for being mute spectators.

Harsimrat said: “The agenda today is not a question of votes, it is a question of confidence… farmers, labourers, the poor, minorities — be it Hindus, Sikhs, Christians or Muslims — do they have confidence in the government?…If we talk about Manipur, it is clear that the women of Manipur do not have confidence in this double-engine government.”