Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that peace can’t be restored to Manipur at gunpoint and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the state and listen to the apprehensions and concerns of the people.

During the discussion on the supplementary demands for grants and the Manipur budget in the House, Gogoi drew attention to the strife in the state, which the government has refused to take up in Parliament.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said rules prohibit a member from deviating from the topic of discussion and pressed the Congress leader to stick to the supplementary demand for grants and the Manipur budget. Amid protests from Congress members, Speaker Om Birla urged Gogoi to limit himself to the subject but the MP went on to target the government over Manipur.

“The Prime Minister should apprise this House why President’s rule was imposed in Manipur. The PM should tell this House why he hasn’t bothered to visit Manipur till now?” Gogoi told the House, inviting protests from BJP members. Birla told Gogoi that there would be a discussion in the House on President’s rule in Manipur and urged him to speak in the context of the state’s budget.

“Why is Manipur’s budget not being discussed in the Manipur Assembly? What is the state of the Manipur Assembly? Is it dissolved or in suspended animation? The home minister should clarify this and take moral responsibility for President’s rule in the state,” he said.

Gogoi said home minister Amit Shah had visited Manipur in 2023 and promised to come again but had “not bothered” to return to the state despite unabated violence. He slammed the Centre for “trying to bring peace in Manipur at gunpoint” and said it would not work.

“If you want peace in Manipur, let the people of Manipur speak. If you want peace in Manipur, have patience to listen to the people of Manipur. What are their political aspirations, what are their apprehensions, fears? You should have the strength to listen to it,” he said.

Congress’s Outer Manipur MP Alfred Kanngam Arthur, too, launched a stinging attack on the Centre, terming the state’s budget “anti-people” and claiming it had no allocation for the victims of the ethnic violence. “Building this nation includes building Manipur. If you do not want to build my state, you have no right to govern it,” Arthur told the House.

Claiming there was an "overall improvement" in the law and order situation in Manipur, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha that ₹400 crore had been allocated for relief camps. She said that the recovery of looted arms has increased.