The Indian hotbed of Manipur leads to two motions of no confidence against the Modi Government

In just three months, more than 130 people have died and tens of thousands have been displaced as a result of the ethnic battle that is shaking Manipur, a remote state in northeastern India.. Clashes with sticks and stones in the streets, police stations and government buildings burning. There have even been episodes of group sexual assaults.

A loop of daily violence that shakes politics in New Delhi, with a prime minister, the Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, who has not even ruled on the clashes between the Hindu Meitei community, dominant in the region, and the Christian Kuki-tribes. Zomi, who live isolated in the mountains.

Loud protests are taking place all this week both inside and outside the Indian Parliament. But from the opposition, in an attempt to force Modi to make a move to try to stop the violence in Manipur, this Wednesday they have gone a step further by presenting two motions of censure against the Government.

It is the second time that the Indian leader has faced a vote of no confidence since he came to power in 2014.. It has been the strongest opposition parties, the Congress Party and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, who have resorted to this control procedure knowing that, beyond the noise, it will not prosper in a vote because Modi's parliamentary group, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a large majority along with its allies in the legislature.

Next year general elections will be held in which Modi, whose popularity maintains his high quotas despite the most extremist religious turn of his party, is expected to revalidate a third term at the head of the South Asian giant that this 2023 has surpassed China as the most populous country in the world.

Internal turmoil is not affecting the growing power of the prime minister, who last week made his first public reference to the situation in Manipur by denouncing a viral video showing two women forced by a mob to walk naked in the northern state.. The women were being groped and sexually assaulted while surrounded by a crowd of men, many of them brandishing long canes or clubs as weapons.

“My heart is full of pain and anger. The Manipur incident is shameful for any civil society. The law will take its course with all its might,” said Modi, who, beyond that statement about the episode of assault on women, continues to not break his silence on the violent conflict between ethnic communities.

Everything broke out in May after a protest against the request of the Manipur High Court to include the Meitei community, which represents almost 50% of the population of this state where 3.6 million people live, within the system of “scheduled tribes”. ” in India, which would allow its members access to greater health and education resources, as well as the possibility of applying for government jobs.

The rest of the state's ethnic groups, which are not officially registered, oppose the Meitei achieving a status that gives them access to benefits that are unattainable for other minority communities.. India reserves some public jobs, university admissions and elected seats, from village councils to parliament, for communities under the category that included Hindus.

Clashes broke out in the state capital, Imphal, after thousands of students, mostly from the Kuki tribe, took part in a demonstration against the majority ethnic community.