New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed the Opposition, alleging that it only wanted to "play politics" on Manipur violence despite Home Minister Amit Shah's detailed explanation of the state of affairs in the northeastern state.

“I want to assure the mothers and sisters of Manipur that the country and the parliament are with you. Once again, Manipur will move on the path of development,” Modi said as he accused the Opposition bloc INDIA of not intending to debate the Manipur issue as the

“The Centre and the state government are working together to punish the perpetrators of heinous crimes against women in Manipur,” he said.

Modi alleged that it was the Congress that did the groundwork that led to the current tumultuous situation in Manipur. 

Starting with Ram Manohar Lohia's criticism of Jawaharlal Nehru regarding his northeastern policy, he traced its consequences to the rise of separatist movements in multiple states of the northeastern region.

Referring to the previous No-Confidence Motion brought by Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party in 2018, Prime Minister Modi said, "Back then, I had mentioned that the motion was not a test for our government, but for theirs... When the vote was cast, they didn't garner enough support... When we turned to the public, it was evident that people had expressed their lack of confidence in them. The NDA and BJP received greater support. In a sense, the Opposition's No-Confidence Motion serves as a positive sign for us."

The Opposition made it clear that it had brought the No-Confidence Motion knowing well that the government holds a significant numerical advantage to compel Prime Minister Modi to speak on the issue of Manipur. This was one of their two demands, which the government was unwilling to accommodate, they claimed.