- No Confidence Motion Debated Against Prime Minister Narendra Modi
- Opposition Seeks Modi’s Response to Conflict in Manipur
- BJP Dismisses No-Confidence Vote as Publicity Stunt
The Indian parliament debated a motion of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, a day after the return of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to the house.
The opposition Congress party started the discussion to force Modi to address months of deadly ethnic violence in Manipur. A vote could be conducted on Thursday.
Government minister Kiren Rijiju said the proposal was “introduced at an extremely inopportune time, and Congress will later regret it.”
In the 2019 election, Modi’s Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 303 of the 543 seats in the lower house and is anticipated to easily defeat the no-confidence vote, which it has dismissed as a publicity stunt.
Gandhi, the scion of India’s most prominent political dynasty, was reinstated to parliament on Monday after the Supreme Court overturned his defamation conviction for remarks critical of Modi last week.
In March, the 53-year-old Gandhi was sentenced to two years in prison in a case that critics viewed as an attempt to suppress political opposition in the largest democracy in the world.
Congressman Gaurav Gogoi told a raucous parliamentary session, “This vote of no confidence is a necessity for us.”
“We needed to bring it… “It was never about the numbers, but rather about justice for Manipur,” stated Gogoi.
Manipur’s Hindu Meitei majority and Christian Kuki tribe have fought since May, killing at least 120.
Most of the state is under curfew and internet cutoff while soldiers from other parts of India quell the unrest. The Congress party’s vote of no confidence was an attempt to boost Gandhi’s political career, claimed BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
Since his return, Gandhi, a lawmaker from the southern state of Kerala, has not spoken in the legislature. Once a dominant force, his Congress party has lost the last two elections to Modi’s BJP.
Beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, he is the son, grandson, and great-grandson of former prime ministers.
In preparation for the national elections of 2024, in which Modi will seek a third consecutive term, the debilitated Congress has attempted to forge a grand coalition with disparate regional opposition parties.
Congress hopes to defeat the BJP by contesting the BJP’s allegedly centralized and nationalistic voter appeal.
