The Rajya Sabha on Thursday witnessed high octane scenes of a "slogan war" between the ruling alliance NDA and the opposition alliance INDIA.
Opposition MPs demanded the prime minister's statement on the unabated ethnic violence in Manipur that has been going on since the last three months and is showing no signs of abatement yet. Members of the ruling parties alliance retaliated by sloganeering in support of the PM.
S. Jaishankar, the external affairs minister's address to the House on international affairs was under way when it was interrupted by sloganeering in the house. While the opposition chanted ‘INDIA, INDIA’ and a range of slogans criticising the prime minister and the government's handling of the Manipur issue, the ruling side responded with the chants of ‘Modi, Modi' expressing support for the PM.
A coalition of 26 opposition parties, including the Congress, previously known as UPA has rechristened itself last month at the Banglore meeting to the "Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance" and is commonly referred to by its acronym, INDIA. The opposition parties including members of the erstwhile UPA and other opposition parties have realigned & united with a view to collectively defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and prevent it from winning a third consecutive term in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
All members of INDIA, the 26-party opposition group, wore black on Thursday to protest the prime minister's "silence on the Manipur problem.
