MNF MP: They 'silenced' me for calling out Shah's remarks

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally and Rajya Sabha MP from Mizo National Front (MNF) K Vanlalvena has complained that while he was trying to refute Home Minister Amit Shah, his microphone was switched off.

Vanlalvena took offence to Shah’s statement on Wednesday, attributing the ethnic violence in Manipur to an influx of refugees from Myanmar, which “triggered anxieties among the majority Meitei community”.

The MNF MP said that Shah’s remarks made it look like the Kuki victims of the violence were outsiders, which they were not. “I am a tribal MP. The Honorable Home Minister said that the tribal people in Manipur are Myanmarese. We are not Myanmarese. We are Indian. We have been living here before the British administration,” Vanlalvena said before he was cut off. Following this, Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar interrupted the speech and argued that all MPs must be concerned with “every inch of India” and not just their own regions.

Dhankhar then adjourned the House and ordered thatVanlalvena’s statement not go on record.

The Mizoram MP tweeted his displeasure. “I raised the Manipur issue at Parliament session today afternoon...Hon'ble Chairman switched off my microphone while I just began to speak.''