Mizoram RS MP K. Vanlalvena slams Amit Shah for his remarks on Manipur tribals in Lok Sabha

The lone Rajya Sabha member from Mizoram K. Vanlalvena on Thursday expressed his deep displeasure and disapproval of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments that the tribal community members in Manipur are Myanmar nationals.

Reacting sharply to Shah’s speech in Lok Sabha yesterday, Vanlalvena told Rajya Sabha that the tribals in Manipur are not immigrants from Myanmar but they have been in the northeast for over 200 years before the British colonised India.

“I am a tribal from Mizoram and we are not foreigners and we are not Myanmarese nationals, we are Indians. We have been in the northeast hundreds of years before India became independent,” the MP said.

Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar, while Vanlalvena was speaking said that none of what was being said will be put on record as it was a sensitive issue.

The Mizo MP told over phone from Delhi that he was infuriated by Shah’s speech in the Parliament saying that the trouble in Manipur was due to illegal infiltrators thereby voicing the contention of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

“My microphone was switched off with three fourth of my voice rendered unheard,” he said.

He added that though the Mizo National Front (MNF) led by Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga is a part of the BJP-led NDA, the party’s support to the NDA is issue-based.

The MNF MPs in Parliament supported the no confidence motion brought by the Opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government despite MNF being an ally of NDA.

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