Modi government in India defeats no-confidence vote over Manipur

The Indian government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defeated a no-confidence motion in the parliament.

The no-confidence motion was moved after a three-day debate ended on Thursday. 

The motion was brought by the members of the opposition parties over the ethnic violence that has claimed at least 150 lives in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur.  

Opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from parliament resulting in a furious rebuttal by the PM, followed by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government winning the vote.

Modi rebuked the opposition members including Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi saying, “Those who don’t trust democracy are always ready to make a comment but don’t have the patience to hear.”

They would “speak ill and run away, throw garbage and run away, spread lies and run away”, he added.

Modi-led BJP has a large majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, and was expected to comfortably defeat the no-confidence vote against the government.

The opposition leaders have said that they brought the motion to "break Modi's silence" on Manipur.

Congress party lawmaker Gaurav Gogoi, who had brought the motion on July 26, had said that the debate will force Modi to speak on the ongoing ethnic clashes in the state of Manipur.

With 150 deaths and tens of thousands being displaced in the northeastern state since early May when ethnic clashes broke out between the majority Meitei group and the tribal Kuki minority, the Indian PM maintained silence on the burning issue for more than two months.

He publicly addressed the violence after a video that showed two women being sexually assaulted by a mob got viral.

Outrage in India over video of Christian women paraded naked, raped in Manipur

A recent video showing two women being paraded naked and raped by a mob in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur has sparked outrage in India.

The video sparked outrage throughout India with many questioning Modi's long silence over the significant issue of ethnic violence in Manipur.

In his address to parliament on Wednesday, Gandhi accused the BJP government of inaction over the ethnic clashes in Manipur.

“You’re set on burning the whole country. You are killing Mother India,” Gandhi said in his address to the parliament.

It is important to mention that Gandhi was reinstated as a member of parliament on Monday after the country’s top court suspended his defamation conviction over comments criticizing Modi.

He was sentenced to two years in prison in March in a case that according to experts was done to curb the political opposition in the country in the wake of the 2024 general elections. 

The Indian National Congress was the dominant political party in India but faced landslide defeats against the BJP in 2014 and 2019 subsequent elections.

Gandhi along with the leaders of opposition parties are trying to form a grand coalition ahead of next year’s elections in India.

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