This week in Parliament, there have been repeated disruptions with the opposition’s INDIA bloc trying to take on the Narendra Modi-government over the Manipur conflict with a no-confidence motion.

In a conversation with Manisha Pande, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi says Manipur has become an “unparliamentary word” in the House, and that her microphone has been switched off whenever she has tried to speak about the northeastern state.

She also questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue. “Why should we not have our prime minister speak… What makes the current prime minister above everything?”   

She says women MPs have also not been able to come together on the issue despite several reports of sexual violence against women in Manipur.

The Sena MP also speaks about the everyday sexism she faces as a woman politician, recalling the events that had compelled her to leave the Congress party. 

On the legacy media, the MP alleges that it looked like the journalism of the “star anchors” before 2014 was part of a “well-orchestrated campaign” to bring PM Modi to power. “What happened to the journalism that was on display before 2014?” 

Asked if Republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami’s arrest by the Maharashtra police in 2018 was an act of vindictiveness by the Uddhav Thackeray government, Priyanka insists that it wasn’t. Manisha agrees to disagree.

Watch.