Parliament proceedings | Finance Minister terms Opposition’s refusal to discuss Manipur under Rule 176 in Rajya Sabha as ‘running away’

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman criticised the Opposition’s refusal to discuss Manipur in Parliament, despite a discussion being listed in the Rajya Sabha

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 31 said that the Opposition, and their shedding of “crocodile tears”, had been exposed to the public by their refusal to discuss Manipur in Parliament, despite a discussion being listed in the Rajya Sabha.

“We have been hearing again and again from the Opposition that the government is not ready to discuss Manipur. But today, when a discussion had been scheduled and the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha had also said a discussion will happen, the Opposition, which hasn’t spoken of anything other than a discussion on Manipur, ran away,” Ms. Sitharaman said at a press briefing outside Parliament.

She also named Opposition MPs, including John Brittas of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Manoj Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), G.C. Chandrashekhar of the Congress, Fauzia Khan of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Elamaram Kareem of the CPI(M) from a list of 20 MPs, both Treasury and Opposition, who had sent notices asking for a discussion on Manipur under Rule 176 of the Rules of Business.

Also read: Explained | Why is the Opposition insisting on a debate about Manipur under Rule 267?

The Opposition had protested the taking up of a discussion on Manipur under Rule 176, also termed a short duration discussion, which entails discussion but not voting on the matter at the end of it. Various Opposition parties have instead demanded that the discussion be held under Rule 267, which entails suspension of all business for the discussion on the said topic, that can go on for indeterminate time, and entails voting at the end.

Ms. Sitharaman said that the Opposition’s demand was something that was within the purview of the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, but more importantly, eight days had gone by in the session, and while a discussion under Rule 267 was for really urgent matters, she asked, “People have visited the State since the incident first came to light. Doesn’t the Opposition want to talk about what they saw?”

Also read | Manipur — this is not a time for finger-pointing