Opposition members staged a walkout during the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs meeting on Thursday after their request to discuss the situation in Manipur was rejected by the committee chairman.
The meeting primarily focused on prison reforms in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
However, TMC’s Derek O’Brien, Congress’ Digvijaya Singh, and Pradip Bhattacharya jointly submitted a letter to panel chairman Brijlal, emphasising that as committee members, they cannot ignore the critical situation in Manipur.
They emphasised their moral and constitutional responsibility to urgently and sincerely address the matter.
They highlighted Brijlal’s experience as a senior police officer, stating that he understands the gravity of the situation in Manipur, and stressed the need for healing and an end to the violence in the State.
The Opposition MPs pointed out that they had previously written to Brijlal last month, requesting an urgent meeting of the committee to discuss the Manipur issue, but their demand was not accepted.
They expressed their disappointment with Brijlal’s decision to exclude the topic from the agenda for any meeting in July and criticised the evasion of responsibility to discuss a matter of national importance. Consequently, they chose to walk out of the meeting.
Sources indicate that the three MPs are unlikely to attend the two other committee meetings scheduled for this month. Before leaving, they also urged BJP MP Biplab Deb, who hails from the Northeast, to join them in the walkout.
Out of the 30-member panel, seven members, including the chairman, were present at the meeting. The ethnic violence in Manipur since May 3 has resulted in the loss of over 100 lives and left hundreds injured.