The Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said the Centre’s claims that “everything is good in Manipur” was an exercise in propaganda; the ground reality in the State was very worrisome; and the promise of a “double engine government” had fallen flat.
The Centre faced criticism in the Upper House while discussing the Manipur Budget for 2025-26, and four Bills, including the Appropriation Bill, the Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, the Manipur Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, and the Manipur Appropriation Bill.
Initiating the debate, senior Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to act beyond narrow political interests to serve the country. He criticised the PM for not visiting Manipur following violence.
“Had he [the PM] visited Manipur, the people of the State would have realised that the country is with them,” Mr. Gohil said, adding that even the Parliaments of foreign countries had discussed the situation in Manipur, “but our Parliament did not discuss the issue”.
“Hundreds of people died. Sixty thousand people are homeless now,” Mr. Gohil said, adding that when the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had visited Manipur, people had accepted him with love.
Mr. Gohil said the allocation for relief works had to be increased. The BJP claimed that Mr. Modi could end the war between Russia and Ukraine, but he was unable to curb the violence in Manipur, Mr. Gohil said.
The Trinamool Congress’s Sushmita Dev asked the BJP about its promise to the people of Manipur of providing them with a “double-engine government”. “Manipur is burning,” she said, criticising the Centre for presenting a “run-of-the-mill Budget”.
Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said missionary schools in Manipur had been destroyed. “Now, having the ‘double engine’ fail, you come back to Parliament and speak so loud that whatever the Prime Minister has done, is such a beautiful thing… I, of course, thank the Prime Minister that you did not go there. Had you gone there, then the entire thing would have worsened because your presence itself is the presence of division,” Mr. Bhattacharya said, adding that the imposition of President’s Rule was not good for democracy.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha demanded more for mitigating disasters in the disaster-prone State. He asked Mr. Modi to visit Manipur, and said the country needed to give a message to the people of Manipur that “they belong to us”.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Sanjay Singh said he had been suspended for 11 months from the House for raising the Manipur issue.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) R. Girirajan asked Mr. Modi to have compassion and sympathy, and visit Manipur.
