‘Anyone but Modi’: TMC MP Mahua Moitra slams PM in Parliament

Arguing in support of the no-confidence motion in Parliament on Thursday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra said that it was not intended to pass in the house and that it was more about having faith in the opposition alliance known as the INDIA bloc than in the government.

Mahua Moitra added that Manipur is experiencing a “hate crime, civil war,” which makes the situation in that state distinct from the rest of the country.

“Most no-confidence motions are negative motions to bring down the government of the day. We know that’s not the possibility here. We don’t have the numbers. Many of my friends in the Treasury Bench and other BJP allies like YSR, have mocked us that this motion is doomed to fail INDIA is perhaps the first bloc which moved the motion not to bring down anything, but to resurrect something,” Mahua Moitra said.

‘Manipur violence was against a particular community’

Replying to what she termed as ‘false prevalences’ when the situation in Manipur is compared to other states, the TMC MP said, “What is happening in Manipur is a hate crime against a particular community where it is understood that police personnel of one community, possibly the same community as the chief minister, handed over the women of one community to be raped and pillaged by a mob and every attempt to prevent those women from seeking justice. The issue is that the two communities in Manipur are pitted against each other in an atmosphere of civil war. 6,500 FIRs in past 3 months? Which state has seen this.”

“We have not heard of one change in the police force, not one change in the government, not one person taking responsibility. This is the biggest failure of the double-engine government. Let us not insult other states by asking what about Rajasthan, what about Chhattisgarh? Manipur is a tacitly approved hate crime. Make no mistake. This is civil war,” Mahua Moitra added.

“PM Modi, if you are listening…I beg you on behalf of the people of Manipur. Change the administration, allow all the parties to work for a truce. Otherwise, even after your term ends, India will echo in one voice as to what went so wrong in Manipur.”

Mahua Moitra went on to criticise PM Modi for what she termed as majoritarian politics by the prime minister.

“India has lost confidence in you. The spectacle of the prime minister of the greatest democracy bowing to religious Seers of a majority in the chamber of the new Parliament fills us with shame, police manhandling and filing FIRs against champion wrestlers fills us with shame, 50 panchayats in 3 districts of BJP-ruled Haryana issuing letters forbidding Muslim traders entering the state fills us with shame. ‘Nafrato ki jung mein ab dekho kya kya ho gaya, sabziya Hindu hui aur bakhra Musalmaan ho gaya’,” she said.

“We are not going to be bullied. Mamata di is not scared, Stalin is not scared, Akhilesh ji is not scared, Rahul Gandhi is not scared. One crony capitalist is not going to make a monkey out of India’s regulators and equity markets while we watch. Everyone asks if not Modiji then who? After this inaction on Manipur, India will say, anyone but Modi,” Mahua Moitra added.