"PM Modi is keeping quiet and is giving statements outside": Mallikarjun Kharge

NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday demanded an elaborate statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament over Manipur violence and asked why PM Modi is silent in the House while he is giving a statement outside the House on the Manipur issue. "Manipur is burning. Women are raped, naked, paraded and the PM is keeping quiet and is giving statements outside," Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge said during the Monsoon session of Parliament.

Several opposition leaders have demanded discussions on the situation in Manipur, arising from a fresh controversy after a video of two women being paraded naked in the State surfaced and was widely circulated. The video is approximately three months old and is being reported to be of May 4, a day after the ethnic clashes in the northeastern state broke out.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took note of the video and said, "I am filled with pain and the incident is shameful for any civil society." "No accused will be spared, we will never forgive those who are behind this," he said.

Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Thursday amid din over the demand by opposition members for a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Manipur violence in the House. The House witnessed two adjournments before it was adjourned for the day. The House was first adjourned till 12 noon following obituary references and then till 2 pm over the opposition's demand related to Manipur violence.

The monsoon session of Parliament began on Thursday and will continue till August 11.