Whenever there is crisis, prime minister remains silent: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

'The prime minister is like a father figure. He turned his back on the daughters of Manipur,' he alleged.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioning his 'silence' over a range of issues including the violence in Manipur and Haryana's Nuh, and the alleged Chinese incursion.

"In the case of Manipur, he could have at least issued an appeal for peace,' he said while speaking in the Delhi Assembly. "The European Parliament and American Parliamentarians discussed the matter but the PM was silent."

"The prime minister is like a father figure. He turned his back on the daughters of Manipur. You kept sitting in your room. The entire country is asking the reason for PM's silence. It is not the first time that he is silent. Whenever there has been a crisis situation over the past nine years, the prime minister has remained silent," Kejriwal alleged.

Attacking BJP MLAs, five of whom were marshalled out while the rest three walked out in protest against the Delhi Assembly discussing the Manipur issue, Kejriwal said they are going out and telling the media "they have nothing to do with Manipur".

"The Manipur incident is painful but more painful is BJP MLAs walking out of Delhi Assembly over the issue. This is not just the thinking of BJP MLAs but even PM Modi thinks the same. PM Modi remained silent when 150 people were murdered in Manipur, 60,000 people were left homeless and 6,500 FIRs were registered. The daughters of Manipur were paraded naked, even then PM Modi remained silent," he said.

Manipur has witnessed sporadic ethnic violence since May 3 between the Kuki and Meitei communities which has left over 150 dead. A video had surfaced online on July 19 that showed that two women were paraded naked in a Manipur village on May 4.

Prime Minister Modi had spoken on the issue first time after the video had surfaced saying strict was being taken. A few days later, while replying to the debate on non-confidence motion in Parliament, Modi had said there will soon be peace in Manipur as efforts are being made in that direction.

Modi touched up on the issue in his Independence Day speech also.

Kejriwal attacked the prime minister also over the recent protest by women wrestlers against former WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, saying the champion grapplers alleged sexual harassment by Singh, but the PM did not say a word.

"When they won medals at the Olympics, PM Modi was the first one to click pictures with them. He had told them 'you are my daughter'. But when they were protesting, he remained silent. At least he could have said, 'I am there. I will get it inquired into and get people punished'," said Kejriwal.

The women wrestlers had to go to the Supreme Court to get an FIR registered, he said.

The chief minister also accused the prime minister of maintaining 'silence' on the alleged Chinese incursion in Ladakh, the Hindenburg report claiming stock manipulation by the Adani group (a charge the conglomerate has refuted) and the mowing down of farmers by the son of one of his ministers in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.

"These people (the BJP) abuse (First Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal) Nehru. At least, he had looked China in the eye and fought with them. But these people surrendered before China," he said in the assembly.

The AAP national convener also talked about the other issues on which the prime minister has maintained 'silence'.

"PM Modi waived Rs 13 lakh crore worth loan of some capitalists of the country. Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Lalit Modi were allowed to escape abroad. They issued a notice against (AAP leader) Manish Sisodia to prevent him from escaping abroad. They could have issued notice against Nirav Modi also. According to the RBI, there are 16,000 willful defaulters in the country who are not repaying their loans. Why doesn't Modi ji catch them and put them in jail?" he asked.

Communal violence erupted in Haryana's Nuh on July 31 when a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was pelted with stones. The violence spread to some neighbouring districts, leaving at least six dead.

Expressing his concern over this and other issues Arvind Kejriwal sought accountability.

"The son of a central minister crushed the farmers with his Jeep in Lakhimpur Kheri, everyone has seen the video but the PM was silent. In Hathras, a Dalit girl was gang-raped by four men but the PM is silent. In Haryana's Nuh, Sohna and Gurugram violence broke out between two communities, the whole world looked down upon us but the PM was still silent," he said.

Apparently referring to the political realignment in Maharashtra, Kejriwal said that in his speech, the PM accused some leaders of Rs 17,000-crore corruption but inducted them into his party three days later.

"A CAG report illustrates corruption pertaining to the Dwarka-Expressway project but the PM is silent," he said.

In his address, Kejriwal appealed to the PM on behalf of the House, to "speak up on the issues of Manipur and take necessary interventions to bring back normalcy in the state".