Oppn. Shedding Crocodile Tears on Manipur: Nirmala Sitharaman
She said the opposition parties were indulging in ‘drama’ over the grievances of people of the state
New Delhi: Hitting at the Opposition leaders, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday accused them of shedding crocodile tears on Manipur and indulging in ‘drama’ over the grievances of people of the state. Her attack came during her reply to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025, extending GST benefits to the state through a bill.
Later, the Rajya Sabha returned the Manipur GST bill to the Lok Sabha through voice vote, aiming at replacing an Ordinance promulgated to implement the GST 2.0 reforms in the northeastern state. The Lok Sabha had passed the bill on Monday. The bill, which seeks to give effect to decisions taken at the 56th meeting of the GST Council, was laid on the table of the House by minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary.
The finance minister rapped the Opposition for not participating in the discussion on the bill that seeks to replace an Ordinance in this regard. The Opposition had earlier staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha after the chair rejected their demand for a discussion on the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
“We saw them shedding crocodile tears on Manipur issues. Every time on Manipur, they will raise issues and shed crocodile tears. When the budget for Manipur came up earlier, the Opposition did not participate in the debate on the bill even at that time. Even today when the GST benefits have to go to the state government, they are not here to participate. All the grievances on Manipur, they are all just drama. I am sorry to say this,” she said.
She further said that the Opposition has to adopt a responsible role in a state on which they talk about so much and should participate in the discussion on a bill where benefits of GST have to be passed on to the state. “This is shameful. Even today, they did not participate in discussion over Manipur's bill for implementing GST in the state,” she alleged.
