India’s Modi faces no-confidence motion over failure to tackle Manipur violence

Opposition forces will debate in parliament on ethnic clashes in which dozens have been killed

Opposition parties moved a no-confidence vote against Narendra Modi's government on Wednesday in a bid to force the prime minister to address growing concerns about ethnic violence in the conflict-torn state of Manipur.

It comes ahead of a general election in 2024 at which Mr Modi will seek a third term in office.

Two no-confidence motions were filed by Indian Nation Congress (INC) MP, Gaurav Gogoi, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi MP, Nama Nageswara Rao. Approving the opposition motion, lower house speaker Om Birla said he would soon decide when the debate and vote would take place.

Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoys a clear majority of 301 members in the 542-seat parliament. However, the motion will trigger a debate over the violence in Manipur in which at least 142 people have been killed and 60,000 displaced.

Since early May, violence has engulfed the remote BJP-ruled state after clashes between Maitei and Kuki-Zo communities after some Kukis protested against calls by the mostly Hindu Meitei community to be granted protected tribal status.

Manipur’s 3.2 million citizens have been effectively torn in two as both communities engaged in attacks on each other’s residences and vehicles, burning down churches and temples.

Opposition lawmakers demanding a statement from prime minister Narendra Modi on the violence in Manipur state carry placard (AP)

Further incidents of arson and the destruction of some abandoned houses, government offices and vehicles by armed mobs were reported from at least two districts of Manipur on Wednesday, a local police official said.

Mr Modi broke his silence on the issue only last Thursday after a video of women being paraded naked in Manipur sent shockwaves across India. While he condemned the sexual assault, he refrained from commenting on the ongoing conflict.

“It has been decided that we would not have any other alternative but to resort to a no-confidence motion because the government is not accepting the demand of the opposition to have an elaborate discussion with the prime minister on Manipur,” INC leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.

Protesters in Kolkata, eastern India, raise the issue of violence in Manipur (EPA)

The government has deployed around 10,000 additional soldiers from the Indian Army and the paramilitary Assam Rifles to try and restore order, but they have been unable to prevent the displacement of more than 40,000 people who are now living in nearly 350 relief camps. Some of the horrors that The Independent has been told about during the violence include the burning – and, in at least one case, beheading – of some of those fighting, and villages stockpiling weapons to protect their homes from attack.

As head of the government, he will have to respond to the no-confidence motion before it is put to vote. The government has offered a statement from Amit Shah, the home minister, saying internal security is his minister’s responsibility. Shashi Tharoor, also of the INC, said the government must invest time to answer questions about Manipur. “Everyone knows that Manipur has witnessed horrendous loss of lives in violence, sexual assault and displacement. How can this not be the main agenda?”