Amid the outrage over the footage showing two women allegedly being paraded naked by a mob in Manipur, the BJP has questioned the 'timing of the video'.
Senior BJP leader and former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters on Thursday that the fact that the video surfaced on social media just a day ahead of Parliament's Monsoon session was mysterious. "There is a question that comes to my mind about mysterious circumstances. Today, we are in July. How come a May first week incident came up on Twitter a day before the Parliament session was to begin. This raises many questions when circumstances are filled with suspicion," Prasad said.
Urging people to "draw your own conclusions since the particular incident was surrounded by a lot of mystery and suspicious circumstances," the BJP leader said strict action will be taken. "Chief Minister N Biren Singh is taking action and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also expressed a lot of concern".
He also wondered how Twitter allowed such a video to be posted on its platform when there are "mechanisms" in place to prevent people with unauthenticated accounts from posting "vulnerable comments and videos". He also appealed to people to be "a bit responsible" while posting content on social media. "India is independent and everyone has the right to express one's thoughts," Prasad said.
His statement came as BJP leaders charged opposition parties with disrupting Parliamentary proceedings. The party leaders said though the government was open to discussing Manipur, the opposition disrupted Parliament proceedings and did now allow the debate to take place.
The BJP's charge came after both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day on the first day of the Monsoon session.
The BJP said that a discussion on the situation in Manipur would have sent out a meaningful and positive message to the people but the opposition parties did not let it happen because they felt that incidents of "misbehaviour" with women in Congress-ruled states and violence during the West Bengal panchayat elections may also come up.
"They are worried because there were incidents of violence (during panchayat polls) in Bengal. Misbehaviour with women is happening in Congress-ruled states. Perhaps, they are running away from a discussion due to this," Union minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal told reporters.
The BJP's charges come as West Bengal chief minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee said talks with CMs of states ruled by parties in the opposition coalition INDIA were on with regard to sending a delegation to the Northeastern state.
Expressing shock and horror, she said the parties in the opposition coalition INDIA were discussing the situation in Manipur. "If we get an opportunity, some of the chief ministers would want to go to Manipur," she said.
"INDIA stands for Manipur, INDIA stands for peace and unity. We will talk among ourselves and see if the other parties agree to the proposal," she added.
Earlier in a tweet, she had described the May 4 incident as an "act of barbarism".
However, the BJP claimed that Banerjee was trying to divert attention from "her government's failures" in maintaining the law and order situation in West Bengal.
