Parliament: Both Houses Adjourned After Opposition Uproar Over Manipur Violence

New Delhi: The government is ready to hold a discussion on incidents in Manipur but the Opposition is not serious about it, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday in Lok Sabha which witnessed protests over the matter leading to adjournment of proceedings till 12 noon.

As soon as the House met, the members of the Opposition parties were on their feet.

The members, including those from the Congress, DMK and Left, raised slogans and told Speaker Om Birla that “Manipur is bleeding”.

The speaker told Opposition members that sloganeering will not bring any solution to the problem but only dialogues and discussions can.

As the Opposition did not heed to his requests, Birla asked the Defence Minister to speak.

Singh said the government is ready for a discussion on Manipur incidents.

“We are ready for a discussion... But I can see that the Opposition is unnecessarily creating problems. The Opposition is not serious for a discussion on Manipur. We want a discussion and there should be a discussion,” he said.

As the Opposition did not relent, the speaker adjourned the proceedings till 12 noon.

“A solution can be found only through discussions but you just don't want any discussion,” Birla said.

The Manipur violence rocked proceedings in both Houses of Parliament on the first day of the Monsoon session on Thursday, with the opposition demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a discussion on the situation in the northeastern state.

The session started a day after a video of two women being paraded naked by a mob on May 4 in a Manipur village went viral, triggering a nationwide outrage.

The Manipur Police on Thursday arrested four accused who were seen in the video, officials said.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2.30 pm

Rajya Sabha proceedings were on Friday adjourned in the pre-lunch session after an uproar over the violence in Manipur and the Chair expunging words from House proceedings.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned proceedings till 2.30 pm as TMC's Derek O'Brien sought to raise a point of order over the expunging of certain words from the House proceedings on Thursday.

The opening day of the Monsoon session of Parliament had witnessed heated exchanges over the ethnic violence in Manipur and a video of two women being paraded naked in the northeastern state.

While the House proceedings were washed out in protests, Dhankhar had expunged references made by O'Brien seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's response to the situation in the state.

On Friday, he sought to raise a point of order over the expunging of words.

"Three words were expunged. Yesterday, (I had said) the prime minister should open his mouth on Manipur," he said, seeking to know if any of the words were not fit for Parliamentary proceedings.

The Chairman repeatedly asked what his point of order was and as O'Brien tried to explain, the House plunged into disorder. Dhankhar at this point adjourned the proceedings till 2.30 pm.