The Centre and Opposition parties on Monday staged protests over crimes against women and the ethnic violence in Manipur.
Leaders of several opposition parties staged a protest in Parliament complex demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement in the House on the Manipur issue.
Holding placards and banners that read "INDIA for Manipur" and "INDIA demands PM's statement on Manipur", the opposition parties raised slogans against the government in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament complex.
Speaking to reporters, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said it is the prime minister's duty to make a comprehensive statement in Parliament on Manipur violence.
"It is shameful that the prime minister is making a statement outside the House, when Parliament is in session. It is his duty to make a comprehensive statement inside Parliament on Manipur violence," the Congress leader said.
"We are requesting the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of Lok Sabha that the PM should make a statement on the situation in Manipur. We want a discussion under Rule 167 but the Modi government wants a short duration discussion under Rule 176 for half an hour.We want under Rule 267 under which there can also be voting," he said.
The prime minister should first make a statement and then we will have a discussion under Rule 267, he said
The Modi government and the BJP cannot run away from its constitutional duty and answerability on Manipur, Kharge added.
BJP lawmakers also staged protests in Parliament premises over allegations of growing atrocities against women in Rajasthan, and demanded immediate dismissal of the state government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Women lawmakers of the BJP were at the forefront of the protests against the Rajasthan government that came ahead of the demonstration by the coalition of 26 opposition parties in Parliament premises over the ethnic violence in BJP-ruled Manipur.
Carrying placards and raising slogans, BJP parliamentarians staged protests in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue urging the Rajasthan government to “wake up” to the “failing law and order situation in the state”.
“We have gathered here to protest against the corruption and atrocities in Rajasthan,” Mala Rajya Laxmi, Lok Sabha member from Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, said.
Rajasthan BJP president Chandra Prakash Joshi demanded that the Rajasthan chief minister should “step down” over allegations of increasing crimes against women in the state.
“Rajasthan has a glorious history, but in the last three years it has emerged as the number one state in atrocities against women, particulary dalits and the poor,” Joshi said.
In Rajasthan, there have been instances of a girl being killed after rape, atrocities have been committed against women inside an ambulance and police officials had sought bribes to register an FIR, Joshi claimed.
“The Rajasthan government has been unable to maintain law and order. Rajasthan government should step down,” he said.
The government has agreed to hold a short-duration discussion on the Manipur issue with the Home Minister replying to it, but the opposition is adamant on its demand for the prime minister's statement first.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have failed to transact any business during the Monsoon Session amid the stalemate between the opposition and the government over the Manipur issue.
