An MP of the Mizo National Front (MNF), an NDA ally and the party that rules Mizoram, said on Friday the time devoted by the Prime Minister to violence-wracked Manipur in his reply to the no-confidence motion against his government was “very much insufficient” and that the tribals of Mizoram and Manipur “feel let down by him”
Modi had delivered what was described as a record-breaking 2-hour-13-minute speech in his reply to the no-confidence motion on Thursday but touched upon Manipur only 1 hour and 30 minutes into the speech — first for five minutes and then again for 30 seconds.
MNF Lok Sabha member C. Lalrosanga said in an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for the news portal The Wire: “(The time devoted by Modi to Manipur in his speech was) very much insufficient. I would have expected him to address the Manipur issue first — first and foremost before anything else. Before talking about development, before claiming so many things, he ought to have spoken about Manipur in the first place. He should have spoken about Manipur before the beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament.”
Lalrosanga added: “He brought up the Northeast pretty late in the speech. Yes, we feel let down. I think the tribals, especially those in Manipur and Mizoram, feel let down by him — by his silence. We expected much much better. As he must have done in other places, other times during natural calamities, accidents and at times when he used to speak about his feelings, how he offers his condolences, his sympathy.... That hasn’t happened here (Manipur). I think the people of the Northeast, especially the tribals, feel let down. Sentiments are running high (in Mizoram). It could be a definite feature (of the ensuing state elections in Mizoram).”
He said he voted for the no-confidence motion against the Modi government because of the “unhappiness with the handling of the Manipur situation by the Manipur government, and indirectly by the central government”.
“...Manipur is an adjoining state of Mizoram and we are very much related with the hill tribes of Manipur. They are our ethnic brothers and sisters. A lot of them have come across to Mizoram.... We are helping them. In the process we have come to know how much they have suffered.... We thought the government would act immediately and put a stop to all this. But so far nothing really has been done effectively to put down the violence,” he said.
The Kukis of Manipur, the Mizos of Mizoram and the Chin people Myanmar share the same Zo ancestry.
The MNF MP said his party felt that the Modi government “has allowed the state government to allow the situation to go out of control”.
On Union home minister Amit Shah’s reason for not removing Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh because he was cooperating with the Centre, Lalrosanga said: “Cooperation in what way? But I don’t think this cooperation has worked effectively at all. It has not done anything to better the situation in Manipur.”
To another query on Singh, the MNF MP said: “There is mistrust. Especially the Kukis have no confidence in this particular chief minister (Singh).”
Responding to Shah’s claim in his speech during the no-trust motion that one reason for the ongoing unrest was the influx of Kuki refugees from neighbouring Myanmar, Lalrosanga said: “That is a Meitei narrative, the narrative of the present government. That can’t be. Kukis have been in those hills for a long long time, centuries, right from the British time. How can Kukis be illegal immigrants? No....”
‘Let down’
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum on Thursday said the Kuki-Zo people “feel let down” by Shah for linking the influx of refugees from neighbouring Myanmar to the ongoing conflict in Manipur and also his defence of chief minister Singh.
