The resolution was passed in the Upper House, a day after the Lok Sabha approved it at 2.40 am on Thursday.
On Friday morning, Rajya Sabha passed a statutory resolution on the proclamation of the President’s Rule in Manipur. At 2.36 am, after over 12 hours of discussion on The Waqf(Amendment) Bill 2025, Union home minister Amit Shah moved the statutory resolution in the Rajya Sabha. It was approved by the House at 3.58 am after a discussion that saw the participation of 11 speakers, including Shah, who responded to the debate.
The resolution was passed in the Upper House, a day after the Lok Sabha approved it at 2.40 am on Thursday. In the Lok Sabha, Shah had moved the resolution at 2 am.
On Thursday evening, amid discussion of the Waqf Amendment bill 2025, the leader of the opposition in the house Mallikarjun Kharge requested the Chair to schedule the Manipur discussion for the following day as the Waqf Bill discussion would continue till late at night leaving little time for Manipur. The request was not heeded. The Chair informed the house that the matter was listed in the agenda for Thursday.
Later when other opposition leaders, also made a similar request, Shah responded, “Manipur is an important issue. Why don’t you work till late night for once tonight?”
Kharge, who started the discussion, questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not visited Manipur in the last two years. The senior Congress leader also asked the government to present a white paper on Manipur stating the facts of the ethnic clashes. “I demand an inquiry and a white paper to be presented in the House. Everybody will then know what is happening in the state….BJP has no plan in place to restore peace. They have allowed conflict to deepen.”
Kharge also said that the BJP government does not have a plan to restore peace. He said it seems a new experiment is being tried there every day. Referring to the Centre imposing the President’s Rule, he said, “ The CM should have taken responsibility and resigned. BJP was working to save the CM and not Manipur. The President’s Rule has not been imposed to save Manipur but to save the party’s prospects there,” he said while listing the different incidents reported from Manipur state in the last 2 years.
In his reply, Shah said the resolution was moved towards the end of the session because even as the session was on the government had been holding talks separately with both groups. “While the house was in session, two talks have already been held. We are confident that a joint meeting with both groups will soon be held in New Delhi,” he said.
Shah said the President’s Rule was not imposed because of the failing law and order, as claimed by the opposition. “There was no violence in November, December, and even until now. The CM had resigned which paved the way for President's Rule. The claims that Congress was set to bring a no-confidence motion is incorrect. They did not have the numbers. The President’s Rule was imposed only after the governor consulted all parties and no MLAs came forward to stake claim,” he added.
Replying to one MP’s question on whether the government had a deadline to restore peace, like the one they have set to end Naxalism, Shah clarified, “There is a difference between Naxalism and ethnic violence. Let me clarify what is happening in Manipur . It is not terrorism or communal clashes. Tackling ethnic clashes is different,” he said adding how in the past ethnic clashes in Manipur dragged on from seven months to 10 years. Shah also reiterated that in all these ethnic clashes that went on for years, the PMs who were of the INDIA alliance had not visited Manipur.
Shah reiterated how the violence was started by a high court order that has been set aside by the Supreme Court. “In the seven years before May 2023 there were no strikes, blockades or curfews in Manipur. There was unrest among the tribal population only after the HC order. There was a feeling of insecurity that spread after the HC order. The situation was volatile. The SC has already set aside the order.”
Trinamool MP Derek O Brien spoke about violence in the state crimes against women and questioned the timing of moving the statutory resolution at 3 in the morning. “On the last day of the Parliament, you move the resolution. Why did you not bring it in the morning? What is Manipur’s fault? They are Indian citizens Look at the irony. Discussing Manipur in the dead of the night when there are no prime time or TV channels. Look at Manipur during the day. Look at Manipur in the eye and talk to Manipur. ” Brien said, adding that the PM should visit the state.
Shah said that the Trinamool MP should first look at the situation in West Bengal. He said, “Yes there were crimes against women. But it was ethnic in Manipur between two groups. What happened in Bengal was not ethnic clashes. What happened in Sandekhali ? For years, women were subjected to harassment there and your government did nothing. Nothing was done in RG Kar. In fact some of your own party members were involved in the crime. In Manipur’s case, we do not support one group or the other.”
The union home minister said he had checked the records of the past(during the ethnic clashes) and found out that that the BJP had never politicised the issue like some in the opposition are doing for political gain today.
President’s Rule was imposed on February 13 in Manipur after then chief minister N Biren Singh resigned on February 9, following nearly two years of ethnic violence that killed at least 260 people and displaced another 50,000. It was imposed four days after chief minister Biren Singh’s resignation. The assembly has not been dissolved and is currently under suspended animation. Suspended Animation means that the assembly is not dissolved, and the legislators of Manipur will continue to be the MLAs. Such a situation allows the party with majority strength in the house to try form a government in the existing assembly at a later stage.