Parliament: Gains for BJP in PM's speech and some for opposition in unity efforts, but no solace for Manipur

PM Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha.

As the three-week monsoon session comes to a close, the Bharatiya Janata Party is on a high following its easy win in the opposition-sponsored no confidence motion and for the headstart it got for the upcoming election season from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-hour-long reply to the debate.

Despite the edge enjoyed by the BJP, a dispassionate look back on the session shows that it threw up no clear winners. The BJP may have won the numbers game but its speakers failed to display the necessary empathy and compassion for the suffering people of Manipur. Instead, they indulged in whataboutery by focussing on the poor administrative record of the opposition-ruled states while using their speeches to provide a laundry list of the Modi government’s achievements.

Home Minister Amit Shah did make a detailed speech on Manipur but did not provide any convincing answers on the restoration of peace in the troubled state.

The opposition, on its part, lost an opportunity to pin down the BJP on Manipur as most of its members made meandering speeches. Though the three-month-old ethnic conflict in Manipur was the dominant issue during the session, it was reduced to a footnote in most speeches, barring a few exceptions.

Given an opportunity to engage in political grandstanding, Modi’s much-awaited reply to the debate on the no-trust motion was more in the nature of an election speech, devoted primarily to an unbridled attack against the opposition, especially the Congress and the Gandhi family. Manipur did not figure in his speech for the first hour, forcing the opposition to walk out in protest.

And when he did refer to Manipur, it was a brief and anodyne statement. The PM merely assured the people that the country stood by them and that efforts were on to bring back normalcy in the state while promising strict action against those who committed crimes against women.

No answers were forthcoming to Gaurav Gogoi’s questions on why Modi did not visit Manipur, his failure to speak on the ongoing civil strife for 80 days and the reason for not sacking Manipur chief minister Biren Singh.

The outcome of the three-day debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha threw up no surprises. Given the numerical strength of the BJP, it was well known that the Narendra Modi government would score an easy victory.

Leaders of the Congress-led INDIA alliance had publicly admitted that it lacked the numbers to topple the government but chose to move a no-confidence motion against the government as a last resort  to compel  the PM to break his silence on the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur since the opposition’s demand for a statement from the PM had yielded no result.

The opposition succeeded in keeping the focus on Manipur through the monsoon session. Both houses of Parliament witnessed incessant angry protests and slogan shouting on this issue from the beginning of the monsoon session. Except for a debate on the Delhi Services Bill, a belligerent and united opposition ensured the two Houses remained in a constant state of turmoil and that Manipur remained centrestage.

And yet when the no confidence debate got underway, the opposition’s record was no better than that of the BJP. Admittedly, the opposition was handicapped by its poor bench strength and lack of good speakers which prevented it from mounting an effective and sufficiently valiant attack against its chief political rival. Its speakers missed the opportunity to keep the focus on Manipur, the primary reason for moving the no-trust motion against the Modi government.

Except for a few speakers like Gaurav Gogoi and Mohua Moitra who did not stray from the core issue, most opposition  members sought to corner the government on an array of issues from price rise and unemployment to the Chinese incursions in Ladakh and the communal tensions triggered by the BJP’s  majoritarian agenda. Rahul Gandhi did make a forceful intervention on Manipur but the lengthy reference to his personal journey during the Bharat Jodo Yatra was jarring and unnecessary.

But then that is the nature of a debate on a no-trust motion which lacks a focus and allows speakers on both sides of the political divide to dwell on wide-ranging issues.

On the positive side, the INDIA bloc of parties did succeed in putting up a united fight against the Modi government. It was able to draw national attention to the civil strife in Manipur as the political class has traditionally paid scant attention to developments in the North Eastern states.

The BJP had the advantage of numbers in the debate on the no-trust motion. Not only was it able to draw upon its large talent pool to field its senior ministers in the debate but as the largest bloc of MPs, the BJP got more air time to hold forth on the government's achievements on the floor of the House.

Modi’s reply was the proverbial icing on the cake for the treasury benches as he tore into the opposition, especially the Congress, sought to create friction between the political parties in the INDIA bloc by pointing to the contradictions in the newly-formed grouping, and dwelt on his government’s accomplishments to set the stage for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Now that the session has come to a close and political players head out for the forthcoming round of assembly polls, it has to be seen if Manipur will continue to figure in their political discourse. Or will it fall by the wayside?