MPs remind Modi of ‘rajdharma’

The Opposition on Tuesday invoked BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and remind him of lsquorajdharmarsquo as it accused him of taking a ldquovow of silencerdquo over crucial issues such as the ethnic violence in Manipur Initiating the debate on the noconfidence motion against the government in Lok Sabha Congress member Gaurav Gogoi recalled that former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited Gujarat after the 2002 communal riotsldquoWhy did he Modi take about 80 days to speak on Manipur and just for 30 seconds After that there has been no peace appeal on Manipur from him Ministers are saying they will speak but as the prime minister the power of his words cannot be matched by ministersrdquo Gogoi saidGaurav Gogoi MP CongressldquoWhen people were gasping for breath during the second COVID19 wave the PM was seeking votes in West Bengal When women were being assaulted in Manipur PM Modi was seeking votes in Karnataka What kind of nationalism is this that places power above the nationrdquo Gogoi saidGoing on listing his reasons for Modirsquos silence he added ldquoWhen women wrestlers were protesting on the streets the PM remained silent When 750 farmers lost their lives during their protest the PM was silent In 2020 when Delhi witnessed riots and a foreign leader was visiting India the PM remained silent When we questioned the government on incursions by China the PM remained silentrdquo He demanded that Modi finally address the Parliament then Manipur and sack the chief ministerParticipating in the debate DMK member TR Baalu said late Vajpayee stood behind lsquorajdharmarsquo ldquobut today we cannot stand behind them when women were striped and paraded nakedrdquoldquoThe whole world has condemned happenings in Manipur The EU parliament has discussed this and the British parliament has condemned PM Modi and his party very stronglyrdquo he claimed Modi who did not attend the session addressed his partyrsquos MPs earlier in the day and said that the Opposition brought the noconfidence motion against his government to test if the alliance INDIA was united or notIn the closeddoor meeting he described INDIA as ldquoghamandiardquo marked by arrogance and congratulated the BJPrsquos Rajya Sabha MPs for the ldquosemifinalrdquo win in voting on the Delhi services bill some of the MPs told PTIManipur cops file FIR against Assam Rifles personnelManipur police have filed an FIR accusing the Assam Rifles of blocking their vehicle after an altercation between the two groups last week Assam Rifles described the FIR as a ldquotravesty of justicerdquo and said they were undertaking a task given by the command headquarters of ensuring sanctity of the buffer zones between Kuki and Meitiei areas The FIR filed on August 5 claimed the Assam Rifles stopped the state cops from proceeding ldquoto conduct search operations in search of Kuki militantsrdquo Sources said the Army was taking up the issue with the state government Meanwhile the Manipur BJP has requested PM Narendra Modi to replace Assam Rifles with ldquoany other paramilitary force permanentlyrdquo in the statePrivilege notice against Goyal for calling Oppn lsquotraitorsrsquoUnion minister Piyush Goyal in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday PicPTISeveral leaders of the INDIA bloc have given the Rajya Sabha chairman a privilege notice against Piyush Goyal for calling some of the Opposition leaders ldquotraitorsrdquo Goyal questioned the relationship between the opposition parties and news portal NewsClick which according to a report in The New York Times allegedly received funding from Chinalinked firms ldquoNothing less than an apology from him on the floor of the House when it is in order will dordquo Congress MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted In the House Goyal said he takes back any words that may not be parliamentary and urged the chair to remove the same from the recordsRahul gets 12 Tughlaq Lane backCongress leader Rahul Gandhi has been reallotted the 12 Tughlaq Lane bungalow a day after his Lok Sabha membership was restored following the Supreme Court staying his conviction in a defamation case officials said on Tuesday The House Committee of the Lok Sabha decided to allot the bungalow which Gandhi was asked to vacate after he was disqualified as MP on March 24 and given a twoyear jail term for the lsquoModi surnamersquo remarksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever