No Confidence Motion Live Updates: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi wondered why Rahul Gandhi's name as lead speaker was withdrawn last minute.
New Delhi: The debate on the no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government brought by opposition alliance INDIA started amid loud sloganeering. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi opened the debate, with heated exchanges between the opposition and treasury benches.
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Mr Gogoi said the opposition bloc INDIA was forced to bring the no-confidence motion against the government to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "vow of silence" on Manipur. He alleged that a government which talks about "one India has created two Manipurs -- one living in the hills and the other in the valley".
"Manipur demands justice. Martin Luther King Jr had said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. If Manipur is burning, whole of India is burning, if Manipur is divided, the country is divided. It was our demand that as the leader of the country, Prime Minister Modi should come to the House and speak about Manipur. However, he kept a 'maun vrat (vow of silence) that he will neither speak in the Lok Sabha nor in the Rajya Sabha," Mr Gogoi said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi wondered why Rahul Gandhi's name as lead speaker was withdrawn last minute. Congress sources had earlier said Rahul Gandhi, freshly reinstated in parliament, would open the debate. Sources said Mr Gandhi won't speak in the Lok Sabha today.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said PM Modi in the BJP parliamentary meeting earlier this morning said that this is not a vote to express distrust in the government, but to see who can trust who in the opposition. Targetting former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, he said," Sonia Gandhi now has only two jobs. 'Set' the son and give presents to the son-in-law."
Gaurav Gogoi's response that should the remarks made by the prime minister in Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's chamber be revealed in the House evoked a sharp retort from Home Minister Amit Shah, who said the member cannot make unsubstantiated claims about the PM.
Mr Gogoi said there are three reasons why PM Modi is "silent" - "failure of the state government", "failure of the home department and national security arrangement", and because he does not want to accept that he made a mistake. He demanded the PM make a statement about Manipur in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The government has argued that after major violence took place in Manipur in 1993 and 1997, no statement was made in the Parliament in one case and in the other, the junior home minister had given a statement. Mr Gogoi said former Prime Minister and BJP's iconic leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited Gujarat during the 2002 communal riots, suggesting precedent is not an issue.
Gogoi submitted his motion -- 'This House expresses want of confidence in the council of ministers' -- before the House and then made his statement.
Five ministers will speak during the debate - Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kiren Rijiju. Ten other BJP MPs will also participate in the debate.
The opposition contends that in view of the 170-plus deaths, injuries, and displacements of thousands of people since the ethnic violence broke out in May, there is nothing more urgent that can demand the Prime Minister's attention.
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