Attacking the ruling BJP for the continuing strife in Manipur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday made a sharp rhetorical speech in Parliament, maintaining that the ruling party is dividing the country and “lighting fires everywhere”

Gandhi opened the debate on the second day on a no-confidence motion moved by his party MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday. The PM was not present in the House. He is expected to reply to the motion on Thursday.

Rahul accused the Modi government of dividing Manipur into two parts. “A few days back, I went to Manipur. I spoke to many people in camps,” he said.

This was his first speech after he was reinstated as MP after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction and imprisonment in a surname controversy case.

He said he visited Manipur and met women and children at the relief camps. “I asked a woman, ‘What happened with you?’ She said, ‘My small son, only child, was shot before my eyes. I spent the whole night with the body of my child and then I felt afraid. I left my house’. I asked her if she had brought along something with her and she said only the clothes she was wearing and a photo,” Gandhi said, narrating his experiences.

In another camp, he said he asked a woman the same question — “What happened with you?” As he did so, she started trembling and fainted.

As the treasury benches protested and slammed Gandhi, Rahul continued his no-holds barred attack against the government in his over 30-minute speech. “The Army can bring peace to Manipur in one day, but the government is not deploying it properly,” he said.

Gandhi said, the way Ravan used to listen to only two people — Meghnad and Kumbhakaran — Modi listens to only Amit Shah and Adani. He said, Lanka was not burnt by Hanuman but by Ravan’s arrogance. He said the BJP is setting fire to the entire country from Manipur to Haryana. “First you sprinkled kerosene in Manipur and now you are sprinkling kerosene in Haryana. You setting fire to the entire country,” Gandhi said.

Earlier, he also thanked Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for reinstating his membership of the House.

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