Opposition MPs hold overnight protests outside Parliament over Manipur issue

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

united opposition, INDIA, had marched out of the Rajya Sabha on Monday and have been sitting near the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex overnight. The opposition's goal for the monsoon session is to keep focus on the Manipur issue. The move came after AAP MP Sanjay Singh was suspended for the rest of the session and they decided to hold a relay protest throughout the night till 10.45 am on Tuesday morning.

The protesting MPs could be seen holding 'Save Manipur' placards, with one of the main demands being that PM Modi address the House regarding the Manipur issue, before any discussion on the issue. Leading a large group of MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge revealed that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called him and allies like DMK’s TR Baalu, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of Trinamool Congress, but in the same breath tore into the PM for “insulting Parliament by speaking at the door, but not inside”. The demand was repeated by all the constituents of the INDIA bloc who held the protest before the start of the proceedings.

Supriya Sule of NCP, A Raja of DMK, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Manoj Jha of RJD, Sanjay Singh of AAP, NK Premachandran of RSP, Amar Singh, Gourav Gogoi (Congress), Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan of JDU, among others, raised the slogan “Manipur wants justice”. The gathering held a huge banner which read, “INDIA demands PM statement in both the houses”. Opposition MPs will take turns to sit on dharna at the Gandhi statue for which a roster was created for two-hour turns.