Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday accepted a no-confidence motion moved by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi against the Narendra Modi government, ANI reported. The date for discussion and voting on the motion will be decided after holding talks with leaders of all parties, Birla said.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary had said on Tuesday that the decision to move the motion was taken to force prime minister to speak about the ethnic clashes in Manipur.
On Wednesday, Gogoi said that the Opposition alliance was aware that it did not have the numbers to get the no-confidence motion passed.
“This is about Manipur’s fight for justice,” he told reporters. “A message should go out to the brothers and sisters of Manipur that PM Modi might have forgotten Manipur but INDIA alliance stands with them in this hour of grief and we are fighting for their rights.”
Proceedings in Parliament have been disrupted repeatedly since the Monsoon Session began on July 20. Opposition parties have been demanding that Modi should give a statement in Parliament about the violence in the northeastern state. The government has maintained that it was ready to hold a discussion, but violence in other states should be taken up as well. The prime minister has also refused to relent to the demand of his statement.
Manipur has been wrecked with clashes between the Kukis and the Meiteis since May 3, killing over 160 people and displacing more than 60,000. The Opposition’s attack against the Centre and the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Manipur was bolstered after a video showing two Kuki women being paraded naked was widely shared on social media last week.
The move to bring a no-confidence motion was finalised after leaders of 26 parties of the newly-formed INDIA coalition met at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber on Tuesday. Kharge is also the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
The no-confidence motion is bound to be defeated as the BJP and its allies have a clear majority in the Lok Sabha. But the Opposition believes that the motion can be used as a tool to make the government accountable on the floor of Parliament.
“He [Modi] has been declining our hard-pressed demand,” Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, told ANI. “The allegations against the government should be answered by the prime minister himself.”
Congress MP Manish Tewari said at a press conference that the no-trust vote was a collective effort by all constituent parties of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance. He urged the Speaker to suspend all other businesses and allow a discussion on the motion on Thursday itself.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah wrote to Kharge and Chowdhury on Tuesday, saying the government was ready for an elaborate discussion on Manipur and sought to break the logjam in Parliament.
The people of Manipur, he added, want MPs of all political parties to give them confidence that the legislators are united and committed to ensure peace in Manipur.
“The government is not afraid of anything,” the home minister wrote. “Those who want to debate the Manipur issue can debate. We have nothing to hide.”
Kharge responded to his letter pointing out that on the same day when Shah sought cooperation from the Opposition, Modi had compared the INDIA coalition to the British East India Company and terrorist group Indian Mujahideen.
“The letter we received from you is not factual,” Kharge wrote. “There is a marked difference between the words in your letter and your actions. The government seems intolerant and is forcing its will in Parliament.”
He reiterated that Modi should speak in Parliament about Manipur, followed by a discussion. “We are committed to the people of this country and we will pay all price for it...Despite being in power for long, we know that records of the conduct of both the ruling as well as Opposition sides are registered in the pages of history,” the Congress chief said.
Trinamool Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien also challenged Modi to speak about Manipur in Parliament. “They [BJP and Modi] are in a reactive mode and have no good response,” he added. “That is why he is coming up with the crazy explanations, the name is strong INDIA. For the first time since 2014, they have no answer.”
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