Not Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi Initiates No-Confidence Motion Debate [Watch]

By OB Bureau On Aug 8, 2023

New Delhi: Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi initiated the no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha over the Manipur issue in place of Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday.

“PM took a ‘maun vrat’ to not speak in the Parliament. So, we had to bring the no-confidence motion to break his silence. This no-confidence motion is our compulsion. This was never about numbers but about seeking justice for Manipur,” Gogoi said.

The Congress MP said the incidents are not merely happening in a corner of Northeast, but are happening in India. “If Manipur is burning, the entire India is burning. If Manipur is divided, India is divided. We want the House to send out a united message to the people of Manipur – that we are with them,” he said.

He then posed three questions for PM Narendra Modi – 1) Why did he not visit Manipur to date? 2) Why did it take almost 80 days to finally speak on Manipur and when he did speak it was just for 30 seconds? 3) Why has the PM not sacked the Manipur CM so far?”

#WATCH | Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi says, “PM took a ‘maun vrat’ to not speak in the Parliament. So, we had to bring the No Confidence Motion to break his silence. We have three questions for him – 1) Why did he not visit Manipur to date? 2) Why did it take almost 80 days to… pic.twitter.com/rfAVe77sNY

— ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2023

Gogai then attributed failure of the state government, home department and national security arrangement to his silence. “He does not want to accept that he made a mistake,” he added.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey replied to the no-trust motion after Gogoi. “Maybe Rahul Gandhi wasn’t ready today or maybe he woke late. Gaurav Gogoi spoke well. I am a victim of turbulent times of Manipur. My uncle suffered there and was injured,” he said while responding to the change in Congress speakers’ list.

Rahul Gandhi, who was reinstated as an MP on Monday, three days after the Supreme Court suspended his criminal defamation conviction in the Modi surname case, is also likely to speak in the no-trust debate.

Five ministers will also speak during the debate – Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kiren Rijiju. Five other BJP MPs will also participate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to reply to the debate on Thursday.

In his address to party MPs at the BJP parliamentary meeting earlier in the day, Modi said that the no-confidence motion brought by the opposition is a reflection of mutual distrust among INDIA bloc parties as they want to test who is with their proposal and who is not, sources said.