Centre switched off engine of constitutional responsibility: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday slammed the Modi government over its handling of the situation in violence-hit Manipur, saying the central government has "switched off the engine of constitutional responsibility and thrown away the key".

His attack came a day after the Supreme Court observed that there is complete breakdown of law and order and constitutional machinery in Manipur.

The top court rapped the state police for a tardy and lethargic probe into incidents of ethnic violence, especially those targeting women, and summoned the DGP to answer its queries on August 7.

In a tweet, Chidambaram said, "How long will it take for the Supreme Court's indictment of the Manipur Government to reach PMO in Delhi and CMO in Imphal?" "If the chief minister of Manipur, Mr Biren Singh, has any sense of constitutional morality, he should quit immediately. Only those who practise rajdharma can preach rajdharma," the former home minister said.

He alleged that the central government is like the driver of the police jeep who told the molested women "there is no key".

"The central government has switched off the engine of Constitutional responsibility (Articles 355 & 356) and thrown away the key," Chidambaram said.

While Article 355 deals with the duty of the Union to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance, Article 356 is about the imposition of President's rule.

Excoriating the law enforcement machinery over unbridled ethnic violence, the Supreme Court has said the state police have completely lost control over the law and order situation, and sought details from the state government in a tabulated format segregating cases involving murder, rape, arson and loot, destruction of house and property, places of worship, and outraging of modesty of women.