India’s Modi faces no-confidence vote over deadly clashes where women were paraded naked through the streets
- The opposition wants to trigger a debate about the violence in Manipur state where at least 130 people have been killed and 60,000 displaced since May
- The ruling BJP has a clear majority of 301 members in the 542-seat lower house of parliament, so the no-confidence vote will not impact its stability
India’s parliament on Wednesday authorised a no-confidence vote against Narendra Modi’s government by an alliance of opposition parties, to force the prime minister to address in detail concerns about ethnic clashes in a northeastern state.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a clear majority of 301 members in the 542-seat lower house of parliament, so the no-confidence vote will not impact its stability.
The opposition instead wants to trigger a debate about the violence in remote, BJP-ruled Manipur state, in which more than 130 people have been killed and 60,000 displaced since it began in early May.
Approving the opposition motion, lower house speaker Om Birla said he would soon decide when the debate and vote would take place.
The ethnic tensions in the small state of 3.2 million people are seen as a rare security and political failure by Modi’s government, which will face a national election by May 2024.
Modi had not commented in public about the violence until last week, when videos showing two women being paraded naked and molested by a mob in Manipur surfaced, sparking national outrage.
Modi condemned the mass assault as “shameful” and promised tough action against the perpetrators.
