Guwahati: Congress MP Bimol Akoijam, who represents Inner Manipur, criticized the Lok Sabha’s decision to pass the Manipur GST (Amendment) Bill and Appropriation Bill, 2025, without debate.
He called the absence of discussion “unfortunate,” noting Manipur continues to face a deep economic crisis that will require decades to recover, according to a report by The Indian Express.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Akoijam urged the central government to fulfil its constitutional and moral obligations and questioned whether it had consulted party leaders and MLAs in Manipur.
He emphasized, “Manipur is not a vassal state; it’s a constituent state of the Union.”
Responding to the Finance Minister’s comment that the Opposition was merely shedding “crocodile tears,” Akoijam stated that such rhetoric undermines the seriousness of Manipur’s economic situation. He said rushing through the budget without proper discussion reflects the central government’s broader neglect of the unprecedented crisis unfolding in the state.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
On the budget allocations, specifically Rs 500 crore for rehabilitation, Akoijam called the amount humiliating in the face of the scale of the crisis, 60,000 people rendered homeless, thousands of destroyed homes, and disrupted livelihoods.
He criticized the response as “nothing but sprinkling salt on the wound,” and called for more substantive measures, such as a decade-long income tax exemption to stimulate economic revival.
Akoijam also pointed out that neither he nor any other Manipur representatives were consulted prior to introducing the bills, characterizing this as a symptom of “unilateralism, not federalism.” He warned that sidelining elected representatives silences the voice of an entire state and abdicates central responsibility.
Finally, Akoijam said that if Parliament had allowed meaningful debate, he would have addressed the crisis as more than just a law-and-order issue. He would have called it a crisis of constitutional governance, moral leadership, and democratic accountability. He would have demanded clarity on why the government has still not implemented socio-economic initiatives to resettle the displaced and questioned why Manipur remains treated as if it doesn’t matter.