Manipur violence: "The intention of the opposition was not to do anything with Manipur," he said. (file)
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said Indian Army "won't be able to solve anything" in Manipur, and the solution to the ethnic violence that has now continued for over 100 days should come "from the heart and not bullets". Mr Sarma asked if Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who suggested the Army could "stop the nonsense" in the strife-torn northeastern state in two days, was prescribing the Army should open fire on civilians. The Chief Minister, BJP's top troubleshooter in the region, also echoed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mizoram bombing reference (the bombing of India's own citizens using air force planes in Mizoram in 1966) in his parliament adress during the no-confidence motion to underline his disapproval of the Wayanad MP's remark.
"Indian Airforce did that in Aizawl, they spreaded bombs (sic) and violence was coming down. Today, Rahul Gandhi is saying that Indian Army should atop the violence. That means what? They should open fire on civilians? Is it his prescription? How can he say that. Army will not (be) able to solve anything. They will only (be) able to temporarily quite, or bring peace in the given situation. But solution has to come from the heart, not from bullets," he told reporters in Guwahati last evening.
Himanta Biswa Sarma further said the opposition first demanding the PM speak on the issue, and then walking out of the parliament during PM Modi's over two-hour-long speech in the Lok Sabha "completely exposed their designs".
"The intention of the opposition was not to do anything with Manipur, they wanted to disrupt the parliament. They wanted to raise a hue and cry inside the parliament. But that was not love for Manipur, that was for their vested political interest," he added.
Backing the PM, who spoke on Manipur for around 10 minutes in his 2 hour 20 minutes long speech, Mr Sarma said PM Modi has spoken from his heart, and for the northeast.
"He also demonstrated how much affection he has for the people of northeast. We are immensely happy, opposition will not be happy. I hope that as a principal party, the opposition should listen the PM speech till last," he said.
Rahul Gandhi on Friday said it does not behove the Prime Minister to laugh and crack jokes in the parliament when the state has been "on fire" for the past four months.
The Prime Minister "wants Manipur to burn and allows it to burn", Mr Gandhi alleged at a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi and asserted that if the government wanted to stop the violence, there are tools in the hands of the government that can stop it immediately.