IMPHAL: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh termed the single-day assembly session in Manipur a ‘farce’ and slammed the state government for disallowing any discussion on the prevailing situation and preventing the passage of any other resolutions. Ramesh, while commenting on X (formerly Twitter), said, “Today, the Manipur Assembly met for the first time since March 3, 2023. It stood in two-minute silence in memory of those killed in the state since May 3.”
The Congress leader said that the CM read out a resolution, and thereafter it got adjourned indefinitely, disallowing any other resolutions. “The entire proceedings took much less than an hour. What a farce! There was simply no reason why, with its huge majority, the ruling party could not have had the session for a few days at the very least. The reason is simple: if the Assembly Session had functioned, the differences and fissures within the BJP would have come into full display, and that too on the floor of the Assembly,” Ramesh said.
Further, the fact that all 10 Kuki MLAs, including the 7 from the BJP, boycotted the Assembly session shows the deep divide in the state and how the CM is unfit to take forward the peace process, he stated. The Rajya Sabha member said that the BJP, as always, has converted an opportunity into a formality.
Meanwhile, the Congress leaders, led by former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, told the media that Assembly Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh has rejected their several private members’ resolutions on urgent public interest. He said that the BJP government has been running away from its responsibilities to restore peace and harmony in the state of Manipur. “We demanded thorough discussion on the floor of the house on the present Manipur situation, but the Chief Minister and the Speaker do not permit discussion. It shows that the BJP government wanted to continue Manipur unrest,” he said.
Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislative Party Rajit Kangujam said that they hoisted a black flag in front of the Congress Bhavan in Imphal to mark the day as a ‘black day’ in the history of parliamentary democracy in India. Congress MLA Surjakumar Okram said that the BJP governments in Manipur and at the Centre are suppressing the voices of opposition MLAs as well as the people of Manipur. (IANS)
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