'Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants Manipur to burn, does not want to extinguish fire', says Rahul Gandhi

A day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to the no-trust motion in Parliament which his government won, Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the PM saying that it does not behove a PM to crack jokes and laugh when the state of Manipur is on fire.

Gandhi also denounced the prime minister for his response in the Lok Sabha on the no-confidence motion stating that he dedicated only two minutes of his over two-hour-long speech to the violence-hit state.

"I watched the PM yesterday speaking for two hours, laughing, joking, and raising slogans. The Prime Minister seems to have forgotten that the state of Manipur is on fire and has been on fire for many days," Gandhi said.

"The Prime Minister sitting in the middle of Parliament was shamelessly laughing...The issue was not Congress or me, the issue was what is happening in Manipur and why it was not being stopped," he said.

PM Modi has misunderstanding of what PM is: Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi further said that PM Modi has a “complete misunderstanding about what the Prime Minister of India is.”

“And it is tragic to watch Mr Narendra Modi, it is sad. Because the Prime Minister does not understand what he actually is. He is our representative. He is my representative. He is all our representative. And watching the Prime Minister spend two hours talking about the Congress party, talking about the Opposition, making ridiculous remarks about the name. This really does not do justice to an Indian Prime Minister. I have seen Prime Ministers from the Congress party. I have seen Prime Ministers from the BJP, and I have seen previous Prime Ministers including Mr Vajpayee, and Mr Deve Gowda, but none of them has ever done this. This is a complete misunderstanding in the mind of Narendra Modi ji about what the Prime Minister of India is,” he added.

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Gandhi said his comments that Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had "murdered Bharat Mata in Manipur" were not hollow words.

"In 19 years of experience, I have never seen what I saw and heard in Manipur. In Parliament, I said 'PM aur Amit Shah Ji Ne Bharat Mata Ki Hatya Ki Hai, Manipur mein Bharat ko khatam kar diya'. I didn't say like this, these are not empty words. Let me explain to you, why is said this. In Manipur, when we visited the Meitei area, we were clearly told that if there is any Kuki in your security detail, they should not be brought here as they will kill the person. When we went to the Kuki area, we were told that they will shoot down any Meitei person we bring...So, it is not one state, there are two states. State ki hatya ki gayi hai aur usko cheer diya gaya hai," he said.

"When the PM becomes a PM, he ceases to be a politician. He becomes the representative of the voice of the country. Politics should be put aside and the PM should speak not as a petty politician but the PM should speak with the weight of the Indian people behind him. It is tragic to post Mr Narendra Modi, it is sad... The PM does not understand what he actually is..," he added.

"Hindustan has been murdered by BJP in Manipur," the Congress leader said. 

Modi wants Manipur to burn, says Rahul Gandhi

Gandhi further claimed that PM Modi "wants Manipur to burn and not douse the fire", underlining that despite knowing the fact that Indian Army can resolve the situation and has the ability to bring peace, the government is not deploying it.

"Indian Army can stop this nonsense, drama in two days, but the PM wants to burn Manipur and does not want to extinguish the fire."  

Restating that PM Modi should visit the conflict-torn state of Manipur and set aside the talks of the next general elections.

"PM at least could go to Manipur, talk to communities and say I am your PM, let's start talking but I don't see any intention...The question is not whether PM Modi will become PM in 2024, the question is Manipur where children, and people are being killed," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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