Smriti Irani’s ‘set Manipur on fire’ remark draws flak, Rahul Gandhi says ‘you will be surprised...’

Congress leader and former MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi on Thursday posted a sharp retort to the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) dispensation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Manipur issue.

A day after Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani accused the Congress leader of setting "Manipur on fire,", Rahul Gandhi issued the video message claiming that PM Modi has got nothing to do with the violence-hit state because he is the Prime Minister of only a few selected people.

On Wednesday union minister for Women and Child development Smriti Irani had in Rajya Sabha made a scathing accusation. 

Irani's alleged that opposition parties, including Gandhi had remained silent on crimes against women in non-BJP-ruled states. Irani didn't pull any punches, charging Gandhi with igniting Manipur's unrest.

"When will you have the courage to tell us how women are raped in Congress-ruled states? When will you have the guts to tell how Rahul Gandhi put Manipur on fire? Do not cast aspersions on women ministers in this cabinet," she challenged amid loud cheers from her party's MPs.

In a video message shared by Indian National Congress on Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, "What is Prime Minister Narendra Modi doing for Manipur? Why is he not saying anything about Manipur? It is because Narendra Modi has nothing to do with Manipur. He knows that his own ideology has burned Manipur.”

Hitting out at PM Modi for not visiting the north eastern state, Rahul Gandhi said, “Have you seen what happened in Manipur? And what is happening? You will be surprised that the Prime Minister has not said a word about Manipur. You would have thought that when a state of the country is burning, the Prime Minister of the country would say something. Many of you would have thought that the Prime Minister of the country would go to Imphal to at least talk to the people.”

Accusing the BJP-RSS of only focusing on getting to power, Rahul said, "There is an ideological war going on between the RSS-BJP and the Congress. While the ideology of Congress is to protect the Constitution, unite the country and fight against social inequality, RSS-BJP wants that a few selected people should run this country and all the wealth of the country should be in their hands."

"BJP-RSS only wants power and can do anything to get power. For power, they will burn Manipur, they will burn the whole country. They don't care about the sorrow and pain of the country," he added.

Alleging BJP-RSS of "dividing India", the Congress leader said, "You have patriotism in your heart. When the country gets hurt, when any citizen of the country gets hurt, you also feel the pain. But the people of BJP-RSS are not feeling any pain, because they are doing the work of dividing India."

A group of MPs from the opposition alliance INDIA will visit Manipur on July 29 and 30 to assess the situation in the north eastern state which has been engulfed in ethnic violence since 3 May.

The delegation of more than 20 opposition MPs will visit Manipur this weekend and will take a first-hand account of the situation in the state, Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore told news agency PTI.