India's prime minister faces no-confidence vote over Manipur violence

Narendra Modi's party enjoys a secure majority of seats in the legislative assembly

Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, is under pressure from critics over a lack of urgency in tackling violence in Manipur. Bloomberg

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a no-confidence vote in parliament after ethnic violence in the north-eastern state of Manipur killed 140 people and made 60,000 homeless in two months.

While Mr Modi has sent more soldiers to the region to quell violence between the Metei and the Kuki ethnic groups, he has faced increasing criticism for not publicly addressing the mounting violence.

That changed last week, when he condemned the sexual assault of two Kuki women in the state by a mob of hundreds of men, an incident that was filmed and sent shockwaves around India.

Mr Modi promised that “no guilty person will be spared”, but critics said his intervention in the crisis was too late and an embarrassment to his Bharatiya Janata Party, which controls Manipur.

India's parliament on Wednesday authorised the no-confidence vote, pushed for by an alliance of opposition parties, to force him to address concerns about the ethnic violence in detail.

His party has a clear majority of 301 members in the 542-seat lower house of parliament, so the no-confidence vote will not affect its stability.

The opposition instead wants a debate about the violence in the remote Manipur state, which is driven in part by disputes over access to land.

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 state of 3.2 million people are regarded as a rare security and political failure by Mr Modi's government, which will face a national election by May 2024.

As head of the government, he will have to respond to the no-confidence motion before it is put to the vote.

The government has offered a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah, saying internal security is his ministry's responsibility.

The 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.

Shashi Tharoor, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, said the government must invest time in answering 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?" Mr Tharoor told Reuters.