Ukhrul: In a column written by All India Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien for NDTV, he lists 12 new opposition Members of Parliament to watch out for. In the first part of this series, published on September 2, O’Brien introduces six MPs.
“Of the 543 MPs in Lok Sabha, 280 are brand new—just a few months into their tenure as Members of Parliament. Add to that the 166 MPs who have been in Rajya Sabha for less than a year. That’s 446 MPs (of the total 770 MPs) who could fondly be described as ‘newbies’ in Parliament. A warm welcome to each one of them,” writes Derek O’Brien.
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Among the six MPs, O’Brien places 51-year-old Alfred Kan-ngam Shangshakwoshi Arthur, from the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency of the Indian National Congress, among first in the list. “I wish I could have written a paragraph about each new parliamentarian,” he adds.
Quoting Alfred Arthur’s debut speech in the Budget Session on July 30, where he criticized the Union government for ignoring Manipur despite the ongoing violence, O’Brien writes, “If the Prime Minister cannot bring peace in a small state like mine, what will he manage in such a big country as ours?”
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O’Brien further remarks, “Sharp. Direct. Addressing the Speaker with the swagger of a veteran. Mr Kan-ngam Arthur is unplugged, unedited. He is one of the two Lok Sabha representatives from Manipur. He made a mark in his first speech Parliament, clearly articulating how he, as a member of the Naga community, the only neutral party in the conflict- must be utilised to instil peace and restore peace in Manipur.”
The other five MPs Derek O’Brien has named are: Sayani Ghosh, AITC, West Bengal (31); Iqra Choudhary, SP, Uttar Pradesh (30); Haris Beeran, IUML, Kerala (48); and Sanjay Yadav, RJD, Bihar (40).
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