No Manipur visit yet: TMC's O'Brien likens Modi to migratory bird

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien on Wednesday said Narendra Modi is yet to visit Manipur since ethnic clashes broke out in the state in May last year and drew a comparison between the prime minister and migratory bird Arctic Tern.

In a post on X, headlined "still no", the TMC Parliamentary Party Leader in the Rajya Sabha also pointed out that a deputy speaker is yet to be appointed in the Lok Sabha and parliamentary committees have still not been formed.

"Still no Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha.... Still no Parliamentary Committees formed," O'Brien said.

The I.N.D.I.A. bloc has demanded that the deputy speaker should be appointed from one of the opposition parties. The 17th Lok Sabha did not have a deputy speaker for its full term.

"Still no visit to Manipur from the Arctic Tern (google it) aka Modi," O'Brien said in his post on the microblogging platform.

Ethnic violence has been going on in Manipur since May 3 last year, after a tribal solidarity march was taken out in the hill districts of the northeastern state to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

More than 220 people, including members of both the Kuki and Meitei communities and security personnel, have been killed in the continuing violence.

Arctic Tern is a bird that has the longest migration known in the animal kingdom. It flies from its Arctic breeding grounds to Antarctica and returns every year.

O'Brien's remarks come as Modi has returned from a three-day tour of the United States during which he attended the Quad leaders' meeting and addressed the Summit of the Future at the United Nations General Assembly.

The TMC leader also mentioned the pending central funds for West Bengal. "Still no funds released to states, like Bengal," he said in his post on X.

Funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have been stopped for West Bengal since March 9, 2022, according to the provisions under section 27 of the Act, due to non-compliance with the Centre's directions.

"Still no ... please add to this list. It's a long one...," O'Brien added.