A one-day session of the Manipur assembly is being conducted on Tuesday, making it the first sitting of the assembly since violence broke out on May 3. There are three important topics that the assembly wishes to discuss in the meeting which includes the ethnic violence that started in the state four months ago.However amid roaring protests and slogans by the opposition Congress in the assembly. Manipur Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh adjourned the session for half an hour as Opposition members shouted “Save Democracy” slogans in the assembly. Moreover, according to sources, there was no question hour or private member motion.One-day session of Manipur Assembly adjourned sine die soon after proceedings began amid ruckus by Congress MLAs— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 29, 2023The opposition Congress wanted the single-day session to be extended for five days and even objected to the two-minute silence being observed in the assembly. The current CM of Manipur N Biren Singh whos from BJP and his predecessor from Congress Okrom Ibobi Singh also ended up exchanging a war of words in the assemblyMost of the Kuki MLAs have rejected the crucial one-day session of the Manipur Assembly regardless of party affiliation and 10 MLAs skipped the session.First assembly session since violence erupted in ManipurThe session being held on Tuesday, August 29 is taking place after violence erupted between the ethnic groups of Manipur four months ago. Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh announced on Saturday that the fourth session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly will take place on August 29, focusing on the current state of affairs and several resolutions relating to the ethnic crisis could also be introduced during the session.The Congress had demanded the assembly to convene and deliberate on the ongoing ethnic violence in the state. Following this Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey called for the Monsoon Session of the state assembly on (Tuesday) August 29.According to norms, a session must be held every six months as mentioned in Article 174 of the Constitution, also the previous session of the assembly was held in March. The Manipur government had recommended that a session should be held by August 21 however, they had not yet received permission from the Raj Bhavan. Therefore, the dates were revised to August 28 and the Chief Ministers Office announced last week that assembly will reconvene on August 29.Defiance of Kuki-Zomi tribal bodiesThe Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) recently rejected the idea of conducting the session of the Manipur Assembly saying that the present situation is not conducive for Kuki-Zo MLAs to attend.Both organisations passed a joint statement on Sunday condemning the state governments failure to protect lives and the situation of a complete breakdown of law and order in the state. They called the convening of the session devoid of logic and rationality.The MLAs from the community of Kuku and Zomi sought leave of absence from the Speaker of the assembly on the grounds that it might be unsafe for the legislators to travel to the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley where the assembly is located. Apart from this the Naga MLA are still likely to attend the session.The violence broke out in Manipur between the Kuki tribe and the Meiteis over the Meiteis demand for Scheduled Tribes (ST) status. At least 170 people have been killed and thousands internally displaced since then.
