New Delhi, July 2: Lok Sabha member A Bimol Akoijam expressed his anguish over the absence of any reference to ethnic violence-hit Manipur in President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament.
In a fiery speech late Monday night, the first-time Congress member from Inner Manipur drew attention to the 60,000 people living in deplorable conditions in relief camps in the northeastern state for the past year.
Akoijam, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, was the last speaker in the Lok Sabha on Monday and spoke close to midnight.
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“The hurt, the anger has thrown a nobody like me to be part of this temple of democracy, beating the BJP cabinet minister. Think about the pain. I will keep quiet the moment the Prime Minister opens his mouth and the nationalist party says that Manipur is a part of India and we care for the people of that state,” said Akoijam, who defeated Union minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh in the recent elections.
He said every inch of Manipur was covered by central armed forces, yet 60,000 people were rendered homeless, and thousands of villages were destroyed.
“Our prime minister remains silent, not even uttering a word, and the President’s address failed to mention this. This silence is not normal,” Akoijam said in his speech.
He said over 200 people have died, and a civil war-like situation has ensued, with armed individuals roaming around, fighting each other, and defending their villages, while the Indian state has remained a mute spectator to this tragedy for one year.
“Is this silence communicating to the people of the Northeast and particularly Manipur that you do not matter in the Indian State’s scheme of things,” Akoijam wondered.
He said the absence of the Manipur crisis in the President’s address to Parliament on Friday was a reminder of the ‘rashtra chetana’ (national consciousness) which excludes people.
“Today, we are observing a day where we implement new criminal laws, seemingly to discard colonial heritage… This continuity (of colonialism) is shown by neglecting the tragedy of a state which is the 19th state of the Union,” the Congress MP said referring to the three criminal justice laws that came into force on July 1.
Akoijam said it was “sad to see a nationalist party like the BJP being comfortable with the silence on Manipur’s tragedy”.
“Keep your hands on your heart and think about the homeless, the mothers and the widows. Think of them and then talk about nationalism,” he said. PTI
