In Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi slams BJP over its handling of Manipur crisis, calls for Army deployment

He also accused the party of splitting the Northeastern state in two.

The Congress leader also slammed PM Modi over the recent clashes in Haryana’s Nuh, saying “from Manipur to Nuh, you have set the entire country on fire.”

Gandhi was the first speaker when the no-confidence debate resumed on Wednesday. In his first statement in Parliament since being reinstated as an MP following a recent Supreme Court ruling, the Congress leader began by apologising to the Lok Sabha Speaker for his last speech, where he had mentioned industrialist Gautam Adani.

“Speaker Sir, first of all, I would like to thank you for reinstating me as an MP of the Lok Sabha. When I spoke the last time, perhaps I caused you trouble because I focussed on Adani – maybe your senior leader was pained…That pain might have had an impact on you as well. I apologise to you for that. But I spoke the truth. Today, my friends in BJP need not be scared because my speech today is not on Adani,” he said.

Referring to the violence in Haryana’s Gurugram and Nuh, Gandhi said, “You have sprinkled kerosene everywhere. You have set fire to Manipur. You are now trying the same thing in Haryana.”

Recounting some experiences from his visit to Manipur after violence first broke out in the Northeastern state on May 3, the Congress leader said: “I asked a woman, ‘What happened with you?’ She said, ‘My small son, only child, was shot before my eyes. I spent the whole night with the body of my child and then I felt afraid. I left my house’. I asked her if she had brought along something with her and she said only the clothes she wearing and a photo.”

Gandhi further alleged that the prime minister listens to only two people, Amit Shah and Gautam Adani, “just as Ravan paid heed to only two.”

The former Congress president also said the Bharat Jodo Yatra was not over and that he undertook the cross-country march to understand what was it he loved and for what had he faced abuse for 10 years. “I walked from one end of the country to another, from the coast to the snowy mountains of Kashmir. The yatra is still not over … Many people asked me after it started, ‘Rahul why did you walk, what is your aim’. I did not know why I wanted to walk but I soon understood the thing that I love and the thing for which I am willing to die and go to Modi ji’s jail, the thing for which I bore abuse for 10 years, I wanted to understand,” he said.

His comments prompted loud protests from the treasury benches, with Union minister Kiren Rijiju demanding an apology from the Congress leader.

The no-confidence motion has been brought by the Congress on behalf of the opposition grouping INDIA. The debate was initiated on Tuesday by Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi. It will conclude with the prime minister’s reply on Thursday.

With PTI inputs

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