Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said he was shocked to learn that not a single question had been admitted and answered in Parliament on Manipur since the monsoon session began on July 20.
Speaking during the question hour in Rajya Sabha, the former Union minister said he had asked the Parliamentary Research and Information Support for Members of Parliament (Prism) what questions had been admitted and answered on Manipur.
“The answer shocked me. Not one question has been admitted or answered on the subject. The subject is Manipur,” the Congress MP said.
The Opposition has been demanding the Prime Minister’s statement and a discussion on the ethnic violence in the North-eastern state. Since May 3, the state has been gripped by ethnic clashes – primarily between the tribal Kukis, which mostly reside in the hill districts, and majority Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal Valley – in which at least 150 people have died and over 50,000 have been displaced.
When Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar allowed him to speak, Chidambaram began by saying, “I have been told by several MPs that questions have been asked about one subject, and I will tell be you the subject later. But when I asked Prism, the research facility established by you and the Hon’ble Speaker…The answer shocked me.”
The leader of the house in Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, said it was an unfortunate situation wherein a member had put a question mark over the chair and attempted to drag it into a controversy.
He demanded that Chidambaram apologise for insulting the chair.
To be sure, many Opposition MPs sought to raise the Manipur issue while asking questions listed against their names. This was much to the chair’s displeasure as the members are supposed to restrict themselves to the questions listed by them and related supplementaries.
“I had to suffer a spectacle today,” Dhankhar said.
“I called out the question number, the name of the member, and they were present in the house. They did not focus on their question and went into transgression. This is not expected,” the chairman said.
The chair had received 42 notices from members under Rule 267 demanding a discussion on the violence and unrest in Manipur.
Also, the chair received representations under Rule 176 from several MPs from the North-east for a short duration discussion on the Manipur situation.
“I have already admitted notices for short duration discussion on the issue of Manipur. The leader of the house has conveyed the government’s willingness for the discussion. After discussing with the leader of the house, I will fix the date and time for the short duration discussion,” Dhankhar said.
Clashes in Manipur first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after Kuki groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, granting scheduled tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community.
Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep, displacing tens of thousands of people who fled burning homes and neighbourhoods into jungles, often across state borders.
The authorities quickly clamped a curfew and suspended the internet, sending in additional security forces to force a break in the spiraling clashes. Internet is still not back in the state.
Most of the proceedings in the pre-lunch session were conducted amid sloganeering by Opposition members demanding a discussion on Manipur.
Congress president and the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that his mike was switched off when he spoke in the house the previous day.
“I was insulted…If the house functions according to the government’s diktat, then I will say there is no democracy.” The din that followed led the house’s adjournment for 15 minutes.
Earlier, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at the Opposition for using the word “Dhokhebaaz” in the house.
“I am astonished to hear a member of this house call other members Dhokhebaaz. The member should apologise. I condemn this,” she said.
