Does not behove Indian PM to laugh, crack jokes in Parliament when Manipur is on fire: Rahul

In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said it does not behove the Indian Prime Minister to laugh and crack jokes in Parliament when Manipur has been on fire for months.

Gandhi criticised the Prime Minister for his reply to the no-confidence motion brought against his government by the Opposition in Lok Sabha, saying he devoted just two minutes to Manipur in his over two-hour speech.

"I watched the PM yesterday speaking for two hours laughing, joking, 'lagaoing naaras' (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.

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

"Hindustan has been murdered by BJP in Manipur," he said.

Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister "wants Manipur to burn and not douse the fire".

He said the Army can bring peace in 2-3 days but the government was not deploying it.