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Journalism of Courage
STATING THAT the violence in Manipur has “assumed a global dimension”, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday said that only the power of the no-confidence motion brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Parliament.
Chowdhury, who spoke earlier in the day, before the Prime Minister’s address on Thursday evening, said, “The Manipur issue cannot be confined to any state because it has already assumed a global dimension. That is why the Prime Minister’s intervention is indispensable — that was our argument (Opposition’s demand for the PM to make a statement on the Manipur issue in the House).”
Responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s “Quit India” call for corruption, Chowdhury said, “Quit India must happen — from communalisation, from polarisation, from saffronisation.”
Targeting the Opposition INDIA bloc and invoking the Quit India Movement on its 81st anniversary, Shah had said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, “Corruption, Quit India. Appeasement, Quit India. Dynasty, Quit India.”
Chowdhury said Shah should not have spoken about creating a “buffer zone” between the two communities engaged in clashes in Manipur. He said a buffer zone is created on the Line of Control between two countries.
He also “regretted” that two MPs from Manipur have not been allowed to speak in the House.
Chowdhury asserted that he is not worried whether Modi becomes the Prime Minister “a hundred times” but the Congress is concerned about the people of India. He also said his party only wanted the PM to give a message of peace to the people of Manipur and “at least talk about it” in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ broadcast.
After Shah and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi took objection to some of Chowdhury’s remarks aimed at the Prime Minister, Speaker Om Birla said the remarks concerned have been removed from record.
Incidentally, Chowdhury’s name was included in the list of Congress speakers at the last minute. During Shah’s address on Wednesday, as Chowdhury repeatedly rose up to interject, the Home Minister took a jibe at him and said, “If your side didn’t give you time (to speak during the debate), take it from the BJP.”
Later in the day, Joshi condemned Chowdhury’s statement against the PM and tweeted, “Congress leaders are competing with each other in making silly remarks. The remarks of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury about the Prime Minister are highly condemnable and objectionable. He should apologise to the entire country and the House.”
