Debating the opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion, DMK’s K Kanimozhi reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his obligation to protect all sections of people in his territory and recounted tales of despair from her recent visit to Manipur.
"Whether it is Kukis, Nagas or Meiteis, we only saw despair and despondency in their eyes,” she said. “The relief camps are overcrowded, there are hundreds with no access to food and water, no proper sanitation, roofs are leaking, and children cry in hunger. Is this what 'relief camps' mean in our country?"
She recollected how a girl from a relief camp for members of the Meitei tribe asked her some tough questions.
"You have come to see us. But why hasn’t the CM or PM bothered to visit us? We have lost our homes, families, and livelihoods. I will never go back to my home. I will never feel safe there. The government has let me down. Why hasn’t anybody come here to wipe my tears?" she recollected the girl as asking.
What happened next, said the DMK MP, was equally disturbing. “The government, instead of wiping her tears, altered the narrative of the story to say, "I have faith in the PM. Why have you come here?" and circulated it instead.”
She had a word of advice for members of the ruling front, who are fond of recalling instances from the Mahabharata, and recounted how Droupadi was disrobed in the public after her husbands pawned her in a game of dice.
"The women [of Manipur] must also have prayed to some God to come and help them. But neither God nor the government came.
“Those who read the Mahabharata carefully will know that it was not just the perpetrators who were punished in the end, but the silent spectators too. In the same way, they too will be punished as they were silent in Hathras, Kathua, Unnao, Bilkis Bano, and the wrestlers' protests."
She reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that being in the government was not just about power, but also came with a set of responsibilities. "You brought in Sengol with a lot of pomp and show. But have you heard of Pandian sengol – the sengol that shattered when the king failed the common people,” she asked.
