"A Nobody Like Me...": After Manipur Congress MP's Parliament Speech, BJP's "Core Issues" Jab
NDTV
In a sharp rejoinder to the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Manipur had seen President's rule 10 times in the past. "Those who are raking up the issue [now] had abandoned it. One day, Manipur will reject you," he said
Ten minutes before midnight on Monday, Manipur groups and channels on social media buzzed with messages with a link to Sansad TV's YouTube channel - "oja wa ngag doure (professor is about the speak)". They had been expecting Manipur Congress MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam to speak for the first time in parliament - actually, any MP from the state to speak in the house after a long, long time.
Mr Akoijam, who teaches at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, found his turn at last after a day of high-decibel exchanges between the ruling National Democratic Alliance leaders and the Opposition.
"Keep your hands on your heart and think about the 60,000 people who are languishing in relief camps, and those mothers, those widows, think of them and then you talk about nationalism. Only then we will understand what this tragedy means," Mr Akoijam said.