India's opposition is exerting pressure on the prime minister to confront the violence in Manipur, where the death toll has surpassed 150 people, and over 60,000 individuals have been displaced.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has continued with his usual activities - embarking on red carpet trips abroad, attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and holding political rallies in the country.
However, he has largely avoided addressing the ongoing ethnic violence in the northeastern state of Manipur. The region has been engulfed in turmoil for several months now, with over 150 people killed and more than 60,000 displaced. The violence has been perpetuated by mobs from the majority ethnic Meitei community, who have targeted and burned down villages of the minority Kuki and other tribes, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction.
The situation has escalated to such an extent that even the deployment of tens of thousands of national security forces to quell the unrest has not been able to restore calm. The territory has effectively been divided along ethnic lines, leading residents to describe it as a civil war.
Although some prominent figures within Mr. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party have shown greater involvement in the crisis, the prime minister himself has maintained a deliberate silence on the matter.
The catalyst for the unrest was a court ruling that upset a delicate balance by granting additional government benefits to the Meitei community, who had historically held a smaller share of the state's land despite their control over state power.
In response to the ruling, tribal communities protested, but their demonstrations were met with violence from Meitei mobs. Activists and rights groups claim that the state government may have enabled these violent mobs. The India Supreme Court later deemed the lower court's ruling as "completely factually wrong," but by then, the violence had already erupted.
To hold Prime Minister Modi accountable and seek answers on the issue, India's opposition parties took a drastic step last week: they initiated a no-confidence motion against his government in Parliament. However, it is important to note that this move is primarily procedural and does not pose a real risk of voting out his government, as it is the second such vote he has faced during his nearly ten years in national power.
The situation has brought to light the significant changes that India's most influential leader in decades, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has brought about in the country's parliamentary democracy. With an absolute majority in the legislature, he has the ability to stifle and obstruct debates. Moreover, the national media, to a large extent, follows his lead and avoids addressing uncomfortable issues. The judiciary, burdened with numerous cases, also seems overwhelmed, leaving Mr. Modi with increasingly unchecked power, eroding the previous guardrails that existed in India's political system.
Furthermore, analysts point out that the situation in Manipur highlights India's broader vulnerabilities, even as the country experiences economic and diplomatic growth. Mishandling internal divisions and fault lines in such a diverse nation creates openings that adversaries at its borders could potentially exploit.
The situation also puts a strain on India's military resources. The troops deployed to Manipur are from a division primarily tasked with securing the long border with China, where both sides have been in a standoff for over two years.
Gaurav Gogoi, an opposition leader who initiated the no-confidence vote, described it as an attempt to compel Mr. Modi, who rarely attends parliamentary sessions or engages in debates, to address the issue of Manipur.
Mr. Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Indian National Congress party in the lower house of Parliament, pointed out that the ethnic groups involved in the violence are spread across multiple states, potentially causing "ripple effects." He also raised concerns about mobs looting police weapons depots, leading to approximately 5,000 unaccounted-for weapons in a region with a history of violent insurgencies.
The situation in Manipur raises questions beyond India's internal narrative and connectivity. Avinash Paliwal, a scholar at SOAS University of London and the author of an upcoming book on India's northeast, remarks that it reopens age-old wounds.
The conflict in Manipur is predominantly along ethnic lines rather than religious ones, despite the Meiteis being predominantly Hindu and the Kukis predominantly Christian.
Tensions had been simmering for years, with Biren Singh, the Meitei chief minister of the B.J.P., adopting an increasingly prejudiced approach towards tribal communities, especially the Kuki and Kuki-Zo, portraying them as outsiders encroaching on land. In the current crisis, he has framed the conflict as between the state and what he labels "terrorists," referring to Kuki groups.
However, the Indian Army's chief of defense staff has asserted that the "situation in Manipur has nothing to do with counterinsurgency and is primarily a clash between two ethnicities."
Despite widespread calls for his resignation, Mr. Singh has retained his position, with some members of his own party also demanding his removal. Tribal lawmakers from the B.J.P. have essentially accused Mr. Singh of being complicit in the violence.
Instead of holding Mr. Singh accountable, the government has attempted to suppress information about Manipur by blocking internet access in the state.
Recently, Mr. Modi made an indirect reference to Manipur when a viral video on Twitter evaded the internet shutdown. The video depicted a Meitei mob parading tribal women naked and assaulting them. In his comment, Mr. Modi focused on the "shame" of the incident while also mentioning other instances of violence and abuses against women during local polls in opposition-run states. His government took measures to pressure Twitter into removing the video, and officials informed local media that the individual who filmed the video had been arrested.
The government has effectively divided Manipur, with Mr. Singh remaining as chief minister overseeing the Meitei areas, while the areas inhabited by Kukis and other tribes are managed from New Delhi. The army is attempting to maintain a buffer zone between these divided regions, as stated by analysts and residents.
"This should serve as a case study on how not to handle law-and-order situations, especially those involving ethnic divides," remarked Vikram Singh, a former senior police official.
One of those affected by the violence is Ngaliam, a Kuki woman in her 60s. She and her brother had to flee their village, leaving behind her 38-year-old son, Thangkhochon. Tragically, he was killed in an attack allegedly carried out by a mob accompanied by the police, although this claim remains unverified.
Ngailam, who uses only one name, is now residing in a relief camp in the Churachandpur area. Over the phone, she expressed her struggle to comprehend how to rebuild her life after the devastating events.
Volunteer nurses have described her as inconsolable, and she often expresses feelings of guilt for leaving her son behind.
"In the middle of the night, she wakes up crying," said Lunminthang Kipgen, one of the nurses, during a phone interview, "and says, 'my son is looking at me and blaming me for being alive.'"
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