No-trust motion: a lost chance to reassure manipur people
The no-confidence motion the opposition parties tabled in the Lok Sabha missed the opportunity to provide a healing touch to Manipur’s bruised and battered people and send a clear message to the perpetrators of violence that the State will not spare them.
The opposition used the important parliamentary tool of no-confidence motion to force a detailed discussion on Manipur, which has been burning for the last three months, and get the government to commit to decisive action to put an end to the violence and take action to bring the communities together. But Manipur got lost in a din of speeches that sounded more like a campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The opposition and the treasury benches indulged largely in blame games and talked more about issues other than Manipur. The raging violence in the state and deepening divide between its major communities—Meiteis and Kukis—has put Manipur on a powder keg, with the situation threatening to take a turn for the worse due to international ramifications.
There has been a complete loss of faith in the state administration under CM Biren Singh, who is accused of acting in a partisan manner. The people of Manipur, and the Northeast at large, were expecting that the critical discussion in Parliament would result in some concrete assurances by the government and an action plan for the return of peace. But there was neither any indication of action against the chief minister nor an action plan to achieve peace. The discussion on the no-confidence motion concluded with PM Narendra Modi’s reply, but it offered no concrete hopes for the end of the strife.
The governmental inaction had earlier forced the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter. It has appointed a retired judge to monitor the CBI probe into the sexual violence in the state and another three-judge committee to look into the humanitarian aspects. This committee is tasked with helping with the relief, remedial measures, rehabilitation, compensation, restoration of homesteads, religious places of worship, etc. The no-confidence motion was an opportunity for the government to send a loud and clear message about its intention to establish peace and protect the lives and property of the people of Manipur. But the voices that have emerged from the state after listening to the debate leave little doubt that the government failed to send such a message.