July 30, 2025
Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s speech during the discussion on the extension of President’s Rule in Manipur for another six months
Hon. Chairperson Madam. As a representative of my party the All India Trinamool Congress, I am strongly opposing the resolution to reinstate Article 356 in Manipur which will further push the people of the state into darkness. Manipur has been burning for more than two years. On the instructions of our Honorable leader and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, as a part of the team of All India Trinamool Congress, I went to Manipur and saw the deplorable condition. Yet the Prime Minister didn’t visit Manipur even once. He is touring the world but didn’t feel the need to visit Manipur. Terrorists are infiltrating across our international borders. We have witnessed terrorists entering our land in April and killing 26 people. Similarly, terrorists from Myanmar are entering Manipur with Arms and drugs. There is sufficient evidence of their involvement in subversive activities as well. These border areas are not being properly maintained. President’s rule can’t be a permanent solution. This is an emergency provision of the constitution- which is designed to be temporary. Its repetition is a mockery of democracy, an insult to the rule of law, and an admission of the utter failure of the central government. It is the ideal of a democracy to establish a government through electoral process. If we employ Article 356 in the state, that doesn’t reflect the people’s consensus. Manipur was recognized as a state in 1972. The Bharatiya Janata Party government was established there through 2 elections in 2017 and 2022. The government has been an utter failure in that state. … We have seen the Archeological Survey of India report. The Meitei community are 53 per cent of the population in the state but they only own 11 per cent land. The Kuki and Naga indigenous communities live in the hills, they possess hilly lands. …The cultivation of Opium is rising there. During the tenure of Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017 and 2022, the Opium cultivation has risen from 1853 acres to 6743 acres. The BJP government couldn’t stop Opium Cultivation. According to the United Nations report, the Government is unable to stop the drugs, opium, arms and terrorists infiltrating from Myanmar. The law-andorder situation is in turmoil. This is an embarrassment for India. The first and foremost duty of the country is to provide security to their citizens. More than 200 people have died. Women have been paraded naked in the streets. We have witnessed it. More than 60000 people have lost their homes and are living in the relief camps. I have visited and seen pregnant women delivering their babies in the relief camps. There has been a scarcity of medicine and food. Homes are being burnt down. Temples and Churches being burnt down. There is no brotherhood amongst the communities. The Bharatiya Janata Party government is to be entirely blamed for this condition. The President’s rule isn’t the solution. … : Honourable Speaker Sir, on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress, I stand in the Parliament with deep sorrow and with a demand for justice to strongly oppose the proposal to re-impose President’s Rule i.e. Article 356 in Manipur and to extend its duration. I have seen with my own eyes the kind of social justice that has been trampled on and how people are dying in Manipur over the last few years. On behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress, we have come to this consensus that we cannot support the re-deployment of Article 356 in any way. On the instructions of our Honorable leader Mamata Banerjee, I myself went to Manipur in 2023. We saw how human rights were violated and how people were killed there. There are people from the Meitei community who are Vaishnavites, and just as their temples have been burnt; the churches of the Kuki community who are Christians have also been burnt. There is no development there, development has come to a standstill. The President’s rule was imposed on the state. But this can’t be the long-term solution. This is an emergency provision of the constitution- which is designed to be temporary. Its repetition is a mockery of democracy, an insult to the rule of law, and an admission of the utter failure of the central government. I want to say that Manipur was recognized as a state in 1972. And the Bharatiya Janata Party government was established there through 2 elections in 2017 and 2022. But in the subsequent stage, the former Chief Minister of the State and the United Nations expressed concern on Manipur’s deteriorating condition post-2022. In the hills where the Kuki community lives, from 1853 acres, opium is now cultivated in 6,743 acres. And how are these drugs, weapons, and terrorists entering from the neighbouring country Myanmar? The long-standing unrest in Manipur, and the horrors we have witnessed, should have prompted the Honorable Prime Minister to go there at least once so that he could help the people. Therefore, we want a government to be established there through a democratic electoral process so that democracy can be re-established. More than 60,000 people are in camps, 5,000 houses have been burnt, over 200 people have died. Women have lost their dignity and respect. There is no progress in Manipur today. Therefore, instead of re-instating Article 356, elections should be held within 3 months to establish an elected Government so that peace can be restored and development can take place there. I have expressed my support for establishing a peaceful coexistence between the Meitei and Kuki communities as in the past. Thank you.
