NEW DELHI
\nIndia\u2019s parliament on Wednesday authorised a no-confidence vote against Narendra Modi\u2019s government by an alliance of opposition parties, to force the prime minister to address in detail concerns about ethnic clashes in a northeastern state.
\nModi\u2019s 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.
\nThe opposition instead wants to trigger a debate about over 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.
\nApproving the opposition motion, lower house speaker Om Birla said he would soon decide when the debate and vote would take place.
\nThe ethnic tensions in the small state of 3.2 million people are seen as a rare security and political failure by Modi\u2019s government, which will face a national election by May 2024.
\nModi 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.
\nModi condemned the mass assault as \u201cshameful\u201d and promised tough action against the perpetrators.
\nOpposition parties have, however, disrupted the monsoon session of parliament which began last week, to demand a detailed statement by Modi on Manipur in parliament, followed by a debate.
\nAs head of the government, he will have to respond to the no-confidence motion before it is put to vote.
\nThe government has offered a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah, saying internal security is his ministry\u2019s responsibility.
\nThe violence began on May 3 after a court ordered the state government to consider extending special economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education enjoyed by the tribal Kuki people to the majority Meitei population as well.
\nShashi Tharoor, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, said the government must invest time in answering questions about Manipur.
\n\u201cEveryone knows that Manipur has witnessed horrendous loss of lives in violence, sexual assault and displacement. How can this not be the main agenda?\u201d Tharoor told Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI India\u2019s parliament on Wednesday authorised a no-confidence vote against Narendra Modi\u2019s 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\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a clear majority of 301 members in the 542-seat lower house of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-345696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n