Parliament Monsoon Session: Opposition, Centre Set For Fresh Face-Off Over Manipur Violence

Today is the third day of the monsoon session of Parliament and the proceedings of the House will begin at 11 am. The uproar over Manipur is expected to continue in both Houses. The opposition had prepared a strategy to corner the BJP on this issue, while the BJP has also prepared a plan to fight back on the issue of atrocities against women in Bengal and Rajasthan.

The opposition is constantly adamant that no further work should be done in the House until the violence in Manipur is discussed in Parliament and the Prime Minister himself makes a detailed statement on the issue before the discussion. At the same time, it has been made clear from the government that it is ready for discussion and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lead the discussion with his reply.

The Monsoon session of Parliament has been facing continuous disruptions over Manipur violence since it began. Congress MPs have moved adjournment motion notices to discuss the situation of the strife-torn state. Congress Lok Sabha MPs Manickam Tagore and Manish Tewari have proposed adjournment motion notices to discuss the situation of the northeastern state with the latter asking to suspend Zero Hour, Question Hour, and other businesses of the day to have a discussion regarding “ongoing ethnic clashes”. The Monsoon session began on July 20 amid the pandemonium over Manipur violence, with the opposition demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statements on the same “inside the House and not outside”.

Earlier on Sunday, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at the opposition, stating that it is running away from the proceedings of the parliament. Speaking to the media, Thakur said, “The government is ready for the discussion on Manipur but the opposition is avoiding the same. They are also running away from the proceedings of the parliament. What is their compulsion? They want to remain in the limelight but do not want to be in the discussion”.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties alliance, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will hold a protest in Parliament today. As a counter to it, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also planned a protest in front of the Gandhi statue at the Parliament premises over atrocities against women in Rajasthan and West Bengal as well as other states.