INDIA, NDA squabble over Manipur in no-trust debate

The debate on the no-confidence motion opened on a high pitch in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday with the Opposition attempting to corner the government on the violence in Manipur and rising prices of essentials, and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hitting back at fault lines within the INDIA grouping and past allegations of corruption.

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In a high-decibel six-hour debate peppered with disruptions, 11 speakers from the Opposition and 11 from the ruling alliance took the floor in what was the second no-confidence motion faced by the Narendra Modi government, and the first in this term. With a brute majority of 330 in the Lower House, the government faces no numerical threat from the Opposition, which said that it had to use a no-confidence motion as it was the only way to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak in Parliament.

The Opposition focused on the violence in Manipur, where at least 160 people have died and 40,000 displaced in ethnic violence that has spanned three months, and said that Modi had no respect for Parliament. Gaurav Gogoi, an MP from Assam, opened the debate and questioned why Modi maintained silence on Manipur and demanded that the state's chief minister N Biren Singh be sacked.

"Why didn't the PM go to Manipur till date? Rahul Gandhi went there, the Union home minister and the minister of state for home visited Manipur. Why not the PM?" he said.

"İf Manipur is burning, then India is burning. If Manipur is divided, India is divided...I can understand why the PM is silent. He must admit his double engine government has failed," Gogoi added.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who returned to the Lok Sabha after 137 days on Monday, was scheduled to open the debate, but some strategists said the Congress changed plans as Gandhi wanted Gogoi, an MP from northeast India, to start, although another theory is that the party wants Gandhi to face off against Modi on Thursday. "Gandhi changed the plan to surprise the government," a party strategist said, asking not to be named.