Parliament Monsoon Session: The 21-member multi-party delegation of I.N.D.I.A. alliance MPs, who returned from violence-hit Manipur after assessing the situation, briefed the party leaders about the current condition of the northeastern state at the Congress Parliamentary Party CPP office in Room no 53 at the Parliament House building on Monday.
Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also attended the meeting.
The delegation visited Manipur state for two days from Saturday assessed the ground situation and met victims of the three-month-long ethnic riots in the state.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was part of the delegation, described the situation in Manipur as "grave", reported news agency PTI. "If any of the ruling party MPs go there and see the situation for themselves, they will not make casual statements," he said.
I.N.D.I.A. alliance MPs in Manipur
On the first day tour, the MPs visited several relief camps in Imphal, Moirang in the Bishnupur district and Churachandpur and met scores of victims of ethnic clashes from both warring communities.
The delegation members also met Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Sunday afternoon and handed over a memorandum to her and requested her to restore peace and harmony by taking all effective measures, "where justice should be the cornerstone".
The memorandum highlighted that the condition in the relief camps is pathetic, to say the least, and special care needs to be taken for the kids on a priority basis. "From the reports of incessant firing and arson of houses in the last few days, it is established beyond doubt that the state machinery has completely failed to control the situation for the last almost three months," the memorandum read.
Manipur issue has rocked Parliament's Monsoon session
The Manipur issue has rocked Parliament's Monsoon session with the opposition alliance pressing for a statement from the prime minister before a debate. Ever since the Monsoon session of Parliament started, the opposition has been continuously demanding a discussion on Manipur. While the opposition has now given notice for a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, the government has defended its handling of the Manipur situation, stressing that it has been more proactive than the governments of the past when ethnic violence had erupted in the state.
The Opposition has been accusing PM Modi of not making a statement in Parliament on the northeastern state. Both Houses of Parliament have not been able to carry out business amid the uproar caused by the Opposition, demanding a statement from the Prime Minister and a discussion on Manipur thereafter.
21-member delegation
The 21-member delegation included Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, Sushmita Dev (TMC), Mahua Maji (JMM), Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (DMK), P P Mohammed Faizal (NCP), Chaudhary Jayant Singh (RLD), Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD), N K Premachandran (RSP) and T Thirumavalavan (VCK).
JD(U) chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh and his party colleague Aneel Prasad Hegde, CPI's Sandosh Kumar, CPI(M)'s A A Rahim, SP's Javed Ali Khan, IUML's E T Mohammed Basheer, AAP's Sushil Gupta, VCK's D Ravikumar and Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT), and Phulo Devi Netam and K Suresh of the Congress were also part of the delegation.
Manipur violence
More than 160 people lost their lives and several hundreds were injured since ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.
