Cop Can't Fill In For A Collector: Congress After Amit Shah Speech

Union Home Minister 2-plus hour speech in parliament today -- one of the longest -- does not appear to have satisfied the opposition. The Congress, in particular, appeared to be in no mood to back off from the demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the House on the Manipur situation. The party's stance became clear with a quip from Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, its leader in the Lok Sabha, shortly after Mr Shah's speech.

"We have been demanding a discussion (on Manipur) since Day One, not today," Mr Chowdhury said.

"We have been asking for the Prime Minister to come to parliament and begin the discussion. We never said that we doubt the competence of Home minister Amit Shah. But I'd say this much -- how can a policeman answer a query that should be answered by the District Collector," he added amid loud guffaws from opposition leaders.

Mr Shah had devoted a chunk of his time to Manipur, slamming the Opposition for bringing the No-Confidence Motion against the government and Congress's Rahul Gandhi for "creating drama" during his visit to Manipur. He also outlined the Centre's efforts to bring peace to the violence-hit state.

He, however, ruled out the possibility of removing the state government and declaring President's Rule.

President's Rule is "imposed when the state government does not cooperate, but the Manipur government did, the Chief Minister is cooperating," he said.

It brought a sharp retort from the Opposition. Congress's Gaurav Gogoi, who had opened the debate yesterday, told news agency ANI: "60,000 people are living in shelter camps, and they (the Centre) are saying that the Chief Minister is cooperating. Don't want such kind of cooperation, the Prime Minister should remove the Chief Minister on moral grounds."

"Is this the kind of cooperation being extended by Manipur CM (to the Centre) where arms have been looted from police stations? Home Department and the CM don't have the courage to accept their mistake," he added.

The Opposition, which brought the motion, is aware of the numbers being overwhelmingly in favour of the government.  

Opening the debate yesterday, Congress's Gaurav Gogoi had admitted that the No-Confidence motion was brought to compel the Prime Minister to speak on Manipur -- a demand that the government was not ready to accept.

PM Modi will respond to the debate tomorrow. It is not certain that he will speak on the Manipur, where more than 150 people have died since ethnic violence started in early May.