People of Manipur, country is with you… I promise sun of peace will rise again: PM Modi

The no-trust motion was defeated by a voice vote after the Prime Minister’s reply. Earlier, the Opposition staged a walkout, protesting that he had not mentioned the issue of Manipur even after 90 minutes into his speech.

As the Opposition members left, Modi, while holding the Congress responsible for “being the origin of all problems in the North-East”, assured the people of Manipur that the country was with them and the “sun of peace” would rise again in the state.

Charging the Opposition with “playing politics” over the Manipur situation, he backed the efforts of the state government and said, “The Centre is working hard to give the harshest punishment to those involved in crimes in Manipur… people of Manipur – mothers, sisters, daughters – the country is with you. Together, we will face this difficulty and ensure peace returns. I promise the people of Manipur that the state will once again undertake the development journey.”

“Whose government was there in Manipur when Mahatma Gandhi’s picture was not allowed in government offices? Whose government was there in Manipur when the decision to not allow the national anthem in schools was taken?… Their (Opposition) pain is selective. They cannot think beyond politics,” he said.

“Whose government was there in Manipur when everything used to happen according to the wishes of insurgent organisations,” he said, adding that the Congress never tried to understand the North-East whereas he had visited the state more than 50 times and his ministers 400 times in the last nine years.

Declaring that his government would make India the third largest economy in its third term, Modi recalled he had predicted during the 2018 no-confidence motion against his government that the Opposition would bring another one in 2023. He said, “The country believes that in 2028 when you bring a no-confidence motion, the country will be in the top three.”

He questioned the credibility of the Opposition and said: “To survive they had to take the support of the NDA. The Is in their name stand for the arrogance of the 26 parties and the parivar (dynasty). They stole the NDA. They broke up India with dots – I.N.D.I.A.”

His attack on the Opposition alliance was multi-pronged but his key political message was that it was a coalition of expediency and, therefore, inherently unstable. His remark that “knives will be out” and that he had provided a stable government were to underline this point.

His larger message was that the Congress was out of tune with the fast changing India. “Yeh woh log hai jinhe desh ke samarthya (capability) par vishwas nahin hai, in logon ko desh ke parishram (hard work)… desh ke parakram (prowess) par vishwas nahin hai,” he said.

He claimed that the Opposition lacked imagination and the ability to understand. “When we say that India will become the third largest economy in the next five years… in our third term… if they had faith in the future of the country… as a responsible Opposition, they would have asked questions… How will you do it?… What is your roadmap? Now, this too I will have to teach… They could have given some suggestions… See what the Congress is saying… even after being in power for so many years… they say India doesn’t need to do anything… it will automatically become the third largest economy… it means the Congress does not have policies, intention, vision, understanding of the international economic system.”

There was sloganeering from both the Treasury and Opposition benches during his reply to the discussion – among the visitors listening in the packed galleries were Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP Rajya Sabha MPs. Speaker Om Birla’s repeated appeals for no sloganeering had little effect. At one point, the Prime Minister himself turned to his party members to repeat in chorus what he said.

Keeping the focus of his attack on the Congress and the Gandhis, Modi said the party cannot run away from its “past sins” and cited examples from history – the use of IAF against the people of Mizoram in 1966, Jawaharlal Nehru’s comment that appeared to surrender Assam to advancing Chinese troops in 1962, Indira Gandhi ordering the attack on the Akal Takht in 1984.

“They used to celebrate their birthdays by cutting cakes in aircraft. Today, the aircraft are used to distribute vaccines for poor people. Aircraft were used to transport clothes for them, today those wearing hawai chappals are travelling in them. Indian Navy ships were used for their holidaying. Today, they are used to bring back Indians from distressed areas,” he said.

He also targeted Rahul Gandhi over his “mohabbat ki dukaan” usage. “It is loot ka dukaan. Your shop has sold Emergency, Partition and torture of Sikhs.”

On Gandhi’s “dimaag se nahin, dil se baat karunga” remark a day earlier, Modi said: “Unke dimaag ke haal ko to desh lambe samay se jaanta hai, lekin ab unke dil ka bhi pata chal gaya hai (For long, the country has known the condition of his brain. Now one knows about his heart too).”

Taking a swipe at Opposition unity moves, he said the UPA was “cremated in Bengaluru” last month. “You (Opposition) went into a huddle in Bengaluru to do the last rites of the UPA. I should have extended my condolences then. But I am not responsible for the delay. Because you were cremating the UPA and celebrating the application of plaster and paint on ruins. You were trying to present a decades-old car as an EV.”

Modi asked the DMK whether its leaders remember what happened to Kachchatheevu – an uninhabited island administered by Sri Lanka, which was a disputed territory between India and Sri Lanka until 1974. “Just ask those who have gone out, what is Kachchatheevu? And where is it located? The DMK government, their Chief Minister writes to me – Modi ji, bring back Kachchatheevu. It is an island. But who gave it to another country? Was it not a part of Ma Bharati? It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi,” he said.

Referring to an alleged remark by a DMK Minister against India, Modi lashed out at the state’s ruling party and said they should remember that it’s a state where a number of patriots like Rajaji, Kamaraj, MG Ramachandran, Abdul Kalam were born.

To the JD (U), which left the NDA for INDIA, Modi said the heirs of Ram Manohar Lohia should remember what Lohia had said about Nehru. He quoted Lohia and said that he had accused Nehru of not developing the North-East region deliberately.