NEW DELHI, Aug 10 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured people of Manipur that the Centre and the state government are working together to restore peace in the violence-hit state and asserted that culprits behind heinous crimes against women will be given stringent punishment.
During his reply to the opposition’s no-confidence motion, Modi also hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his references to ‘Bharat Mata’ and wondered why some people wished for her death. These comments have deeply hurt the sentiments of every Indian, he said.
“These are people who sometimes speak about the murder of democracy and the murder of the Constitution. These are the people (Congress) who divided Maa Bharati into three pieces. When the time came to free Maa Bharati of slavery, they chopped off her limbs,” he said in a blistering attack on the Congress, accusing it of doing nothing but politics.
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“The violence in Manipur is saddening. Crimes against women are unacceptable and the central and state governments are working together to ensure the guilty are punished,” he said.
He assured people of India that peace will return to the state due to the combined efforts of the central and state governments.
Modi also spoke in detail about his government’s development works for the entire northeastern region, noting that he alone had visited the area over 50 times and his ministers over 400 times.
Earlier, Opposition MPs staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha on Thursday as Modi was replying to a debate on the no-confidence motion, complaining that there was no reference to Manipur in the first 90 minutes of his speech.
Opposition MPs were seen chanting ‘Manipur, Manipur’ during the Prime Minister’s reply as they urged him to speak on the ethnic violence in the northeastern state.
The parliamentarians of the parties of the opposition bloc INDIA then staged a walkout while the Prime Minister was speaking.
Members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also walked out of the House subsequently.
Later on in his over-two-hour speech, the Prime Minister spoke on the situation in Manipur and added the Centre and the state government were making all-out efforts to restore peace there.
After the opposition walkout, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “We asked the PM to address the nation on Manipur. After one hour and 45 minutes (of his speech), he had not mentioned the word Manipur. He was making a purely political speech, there were all the old attacks on Congress party and the opposition, insults, but there were no answers to questions raised by the no-confidence motion.”
“It was a purely political speech. What was new? What did he tell the nation that we did not know? It lacked the gravitas that we associate with PM, and lacked any substantive reference to the motion of no-confidence,” he said.
Gaurav Gogoi, who moved the no-confidence motion in the House, said, “This no-confidence motion had two objectives – first, people of Manipur should get justice and second, PM Modi should speak on Manipur issue.”
“After so long, the nation could see the PM speaking in the House. We forced him to break his silence…but the objective of getting justice for Manipur was not achieved. PM Modi is running away from his responsibility,” he said.
DMK MP TR Baalu said the opposition was expecting to hear from the Prime Minister about the situation in Manipur and other parts of the country where incidents of violence have been reported.
“He has given a political speech,” Baalu added.
Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said, “The debate on who is the greatest spinner in India’s history has been settled. It is the BJP government led by PM Modi.”
