INDIA, the new Opposition combine, held its first joint protest on Monday with all the parties speaking in one voice to pin the Narendra Modi government down on the Manipur violence as the unity seen on the Bangalore stage last week began to manifest itself on the ground.

“Manipur is in the middle of a civil war, but the Prime Minister is hiding behind his subordinates,” Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said after the third day of this Parliament session was washed out.

The Opposition is demanding that Modi address Parliament on the issue, but the government is not ready.

In the House, the Opposition MPs pressed for a debate under the adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha and the similar Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha. Many of them held placards that said: “INDIA for Manipur.”

AAP MP Sanjay Singh (in maroon Nehru jacket), who was suspended by Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar for the remaining duration of the monsoon session for “unruly behaviour”, and other leaders of the INDIA (the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) parties stage a protest on the violence in Manipur. PTI picture

Outside, the social media handles of the INDIA alliance partners — even the smaller parties that rarely deliberate on national issues — targeted Modi on Manipur in unison.

All the Opposition parties rallied behind AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the entire session for relentlessly seeking the Chair’s attention on Manipur. The Congress defending the AAP, and countering the BJP over Bengal signals a shift after the formation of INDIA.

The visuals too reflected this transformation: At the protest in Parliament, Kharge was flanked by Trinamul’s Abhishek Banerjee, AAP’s Sanjay Singh and JDU’s Lallan Singh.

As INDIA confronted the Modi government, even Chandrashekhar Rao’s BRS supported it.

The BJP, on the other hand, fought this battle almost alone as its allies — it had paraded the NDA’s 38 to INDIA’s 26 — remained behind the scenes.

The party has portrayed Modi as “Vishwaguru”, a leader who could stop the Russia-Ukraine war by a phone call, and hyped up his recent address to the joint session of the US Congress. But Modi’s stubborn refusal to accept the demand to make a statement on Manipur inside Parliament, leading to the start of a full-fledged debate, has left the Opposition parties bewildered.

“Is this a sense of guilt?” several Opposition leaders asked, pointing to Modi’s disturbing silence for 78 days as Manipur suffered an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The Opposition has found inexplicable Modi’s silence on the horrors and his refusal to accept, even after the European Parliament felt compelled to speak on the issue, that as Prime Minister it was his moral and political responsibility to send out a message to the world that India was committed to heal the wounds of the people of Manipur.

“Parliament is dysfunctional because the Prime Minister is scared of directly facing questions. He refuses to enter the House of which he is the elected leader. Manipur is in the middle of a civil war, but the Prime Minister is hiding behind his subordinates. The entire nation is seething because he has allowed this crisis to spiral out of control, and his silence is beyond shameful at a time of such death and destruction,” Venugopal said.

Party spokesperson Gaurav Gogoi later told a media conference: “Daughters of India are asking where is the Prime Minister after such heinous crimes against women in Manipur. Does he have a heart of stone? Are the cabinet ministers and BJP leaders bouncers, protecting the Prime Minister? What is Modi’s outreach to Manipur? Why has he not gone to Manipur yet? He refused to meet even BJP leaders from Manipur.”

Gogoi further said: “It’s clear the Prime Minister is scared to face Parliament. It’s because of the gross mismanagement of the situation; it is because of guilt. He can address the American Congress but won’t address Parliament on such a critical issue. He can go to France to hug Macron but won’t go to Manipur to see the plight of fellow Indians. He has no justification for allowing chief minister Biren Singh to continue.”

The party’s communications chief, Jairam Ramesh, said: “In a desperate bid to manage headlines, the home minister (Amit Shah) today said that the government is ready for a discussion on Manipur in Parliament. He is not doing anybody any special favour. The perfectly democratic and legitimate demand of the parties comprising INDIA is for a statement by the Prime Minister on the Manipur situation first, followed by a discussion. The home minister is totally silent on this. What is the hesitation in getting the Prime Minister to speak inside Parliament first?”

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “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. INDIA stands with Manipur. If Modi has any ounce of constitutional propriety left, then he will make an elaborate statement on the violence in Manipur. No amount of whataboutery and false equivalence shall work in the case of Manipur violence.”