PM deluded country in Independence Day speech: Cong MP Gaurav Gogoi

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, who initiated the debate on the no-confidence motion in Parliament recently, has slammed PM Narendra Modi for saying that Manipur is limping back to normalcy.

In his Independence Day speech, Modi had said, “I want to tell the people of Manipur that the country is with you."

Noting that “resolution could only be found through peace”, Modi said, “In the last few weeks, Manipur witnessed a wave of violence. Several people lost their lives and our mothers and sisters were dishonoured.”

Hitting out at the PM, Gogoi said peace cannot prevail in the violence-torn state unless talks are held on a reconciliation between the two warring communities.

Speaking to media persons in Guwahati, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha added, “Prime Minister Modi has deluded the people of the country in his Independence Day speech by saying that Manipur is limping back to normalcy. The truth is, peace cannot return to the state as long as there are over 6,000 sophisticated weapons and around six lakh rounds of ammunition available with miscreants.”

Asserting that both the communities – Kuki and Meitei – are unhappy with Manipur chief minister Biren Singh, Gogoi observed, “Both the communities in the state are unhappy with the performance of chief minister N Biren Singh and it is really very unfortunate that Union home minister Amit Shah has been continuously supporting him. Even though chief minister Singh is in the peace committee, why has it miserably failed to usher in peace in the state?”

On renaming Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi's Teen Murti campus as the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library Society, Gogoi said the Centre should have built a new and bigger museum dedicated to all former prime ministers of the country.

“The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library was a actually a house that belonged to former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and after his demise, it was converted into a museum. If the government really wanted to build a museum dedicated to former Prime Ministers, a new and modern museum could have been built. It is nothing but a political move by the BJP to insult the Gandhi family, right from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rahul Gandhi,” Gogoi said.