Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “remained silent” on the ethnic violence in Manipur, and asserted that the least he could have done is “issue an appeal for peace”. Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal said Prime Minister Modi “remains silent” whenever a crisis hits the nation.
“The Prime Minister is like a father figure. He turned his back on the daughters of Manipur. You kept sitting in your room. The entire country is asking the reason for the PM’s silence. It is not the first time that he is silent. Whenever there has been a crisis in the last nine years, the Prime Minister has remained silent,” Kejriwal alleged.
Talking about the recent protest by women wrestlers against former WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the Chief Minister said the champion grapplers alleged sexual harassment by Singh, but Modi remained silent.
“When they won medals at the Olympics, Modi was the first one to click pictures with them. He had told them ‘you are my daughter’. But when they were protesting, he remained silent. At least he could have said, ‘I am there. I will get it inquired into and get people punished’,” said Kejriwal.
The women wrestlers had to go to the Supreme Court to get an FIR registered, he said. “In the case of Manipur, he could have at least issued an appeal for peace.”
Earlier AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak began a short duration discussion over the violence in the northeastern State prompting a protest from the BJP MLAs who got up from their seats, and said issues related to Delhi should be debated in the House.
Lakhs of people from Manipur live in Delhi and it was “our right and duty to discuss the issue in the House”, he said.
Pathak said it was unfortunate the BJP objected to a discussion over the Manipur issue in the Delhi Assembly even though the matter was debated by the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Led by Pathak, AAP legislators raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pathak alleged women were facing atrocities in BJP-ruled Manipur. “Nothing could be more unfortunate that people were forced to escape from Manipur to Myanmar due to the violence in the State,” he said.
Manipur was burning due to the policies of the BJP, he said, adding people in the State were unsafe. “While Manipur was burning, the Prime Minister was touring foreign countries,” he alleged. Delhi Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai said everyone knows that Manipur has been burning for 100 days.
“In 1905, the British had instigated Hindus and Muslims against each other and divided Bengal. Similar things are happening in Manipur with Kukis and Meiteis being made to fight with each other,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla questioned the BJP legislators over their protest saying, “Do they feel that Manipur is not an issue to be discussed in the Assembly? The UP Assembly also discussed the Manipur issue.”
