New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday (August 8) began debating the no-confidence motion against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, with members of the Opposition INDIA alliance demanding the prime minister’s presence in the house to address the violence in Manipur, even as Narendra Modi himself remained absent.
The debate continued for six hours, with speeches from 18 MPs, including two Union ministers.
While the Opposition MPs focused on the ongoing spiralling situation in Manipur, the silence of the prime minister and the failures of the Modi government in the last nine years – the treasury benches attacked the nomenclature of the INDIA alliance and highlighted the achievements of the Modi government.
On July 26, the Congress moved the no-confidence motion after Opposition members said that the move is crucial for Modi to speak in parliament on Manipur.
Manipur has been in the grip of ethnic violence since May 3. Over 150 people have died and tens of thousands have been displaced.
While Modi did speak last month outside parliament – condemning a video that went viral showing two Kuki women being paraded naked – he has failed to speak on the overall law and order situation in the state.
After 2018, this is the second no-confidence motion being faced by the Modi government.
‘If Manipur is burning, then India is burning’
The debate was opened by the Congress’ deputy leader of the house, Gaurav Gogoi, who had moved the motion on behalf of his party last month.
While some reports said that the newly reinstated MP Rahul Gandhi will open the debate, it was Gogoi who started it.
Gogoi said that the no-confidence motion has been brought because the prime minister has taken a maun vrat (vow of silence).
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“We have been compelled to bring this no confidence motion. It is not a question of numbers, but of justice. Manipur wants justice,” he said.
“Martin Luther King has said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere – if Manipur is burning, then India is burning.
“Our demand was clear – as the head of the country, the PM should come to the house and speak, so that Manipur gets the message that the whole country wants peace in Manipur. But unfortunately, this did not happen. The PM has taken a maun vrat that he won’t speak either in [the] Lok Sabha or in [the] Rajya Sabha.
“That is why we had to bring this no-confidence motion,” he said.
Posing three questions to Modi, Gogoi said that the PM has to answer “why hasn’t he [Modi] been to Manipur yet?
“Rahul Gandhi went, INDIA alliance went, home minister went, MoS home went but Modi did not go.
Manipur CM N. Biren Singh. Photo: PTI.
“Why did it take around 80 days for the PM to speak on Manipur, that too for 30 seconds? Even now there has been no message of peace from Modi. Ministers have been saying that we will speak on Manipur. Please do – no one has stopped you. But PM Modi as the head of the state – his words carry more weight than any minister.”
Gogoi added that while the BJP has changed chief ministers in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Tripura, N. Biren Singh continues to be the head of state in Manipur.
“Whose blessings does the Manipur CM have that he is not being removed? Modi has to admit that his double-engine government has failed in Manipur.”
‘Nine governments toppled in nine years’
Other Opposition MPs of the INDIA alliance also raised questions about why Modi was not in parliament.
“The party has elected him to attend parliament,” said Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP T.R. Balu. “Why is he not attending parliament?”
Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy said that while he has nothing “personal against Modi”, anyone who loves India cannot love Modi.
“It is not that I love Modi less, but [that] I love India more. If anyone loves India, they will not love Modi. I don’t want to make it personal,” he said.
“This government is sending delegations to West Bengal on everything, but not one delegation has gone to Manipur where our brothers and sisters are dying.
“… PM has to reply why he was visiting foreign countries when Manipur was burning. The PM has failed to check price rise, and failed to provide jobs and protect social harmony. We are seeing the communal riots in Nuh, Haryana. Only Muslim houses are being destroyed. Modi never comes to parliament. He has not replied to a single question.”
Highlighting price rise, inflation, the impact of demonetisation and the sudden lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic that forced migrant workers to walk back to their villages, Roy said that the “lack of compassion” has been visible through the years.
“The government has not given a response on the Hindenburg report. PM avoids all discussion on Adani in the house,” he said.
Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule said that in the last nine years, the achievement of the Modi government has been in toppling governments in Opposition-ruled states.
“Nine governments have been toppled in the last nine years,” she said.
Demanding Biren Singh’s resignation, she said that the ongoing violence in Manipur cannot be allowed to continue.
“I demand that the CM must resign. How can we allow this? 10,000 cases of rioting, murder, rape. Have we become so insensitive?”
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Dimple Yadav, Samajwadi Party MP, said that while the goal of the no-confidence motion was to bring the prime minister to the house, he was still not present.
She hit back at the BJP leaders’ charge of violence against women in Opposition-ruled states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh when asked about Manipur in recent weeks.
“Yes, we should talk about other states. Every three hours, one woman is sexually assaulted in UP and the double-engine government [of the BJP] is not taking note of this,” she said.
“Manipur is not an ordinary situation. The government’s attitude has been concerning. There has been complete violation of human rights, and using women as an instrument of perpetuating violence is simply unacceptable in [a] constitutional democracy.”
Gloves off over ‘INDIA’ alliance
The BJP centred its attack on the Opposition’s choice of the name ‘INDIA’ for its alliance of 26 parties that have joined hands to fight Modi unitedly in 2024.
From the treasury benches, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey kicked off the debate, a day after he accused Rahul Gandhi, NewsClick and independent journalists of having links with China.
“There were reports in the media that Rahul Gandhi will speak. “Maybe he is not ready, maybe he woke up late so he is not speaking,” said Dubey.
Taking a jibe at the Supreme Court stay on Gandhi’s conviction in a defamation case, Dubey said that the Congress MP has refused to apologise because Modi is the name of a lower caste.
“Rahul Gandhi is not ready to ask for forgiveness or apologise because Modi is a lower caste and Rahul is a big man. He says he is not Savarkar. But the truth is he can never be Savarkar.”
Pictured here speaking in the no-confidence motion debate, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had earlier accused the Congress of receiving funds from China. Photo: Screenshot from YouTube.
Taking aim at Sonia Gandhi, who was also present in the house, Dubey said that she was acting like any Indian woman. “Bete ko set karna hai, damaad ko bhent karna hai [Hindi for ‘she has to set up her son, and gift her son-in-law’].
Dubey said that several members of the INDIA alliance may not even be able to answer the full form of the acronym.
“Modi says this is not a no-confidence motion, but a vote of confidence on the Opposition and about who is with whom,” he said.
He said that the no-confidence motion was against the “son of a poor man, against a man who gave people houses, drinking water, and toilets.”
Shrikant Shinde, a Shiv Sena MP, also took aim at the INDIA alliance and said that they changed their name from UPA to INDIA because the word UPA is only reminiscent of scams.
“People have already given no-confidence against you in 2014 and 2019, and [a] hat-trick will come in 2024,” he said.
“They have changed their name from UPA to INDIA – they think by this, people of the country will be with them. But the reason they changed their name is because they are ashamed of [the name] ‘UPA’, which reminds people of scams. Between 2004-14, India only got scams and corruption and countless terror attacks. Today with the INDIA alliance they will lecture people on democracy?
“In the INDIA alliance every politician is a PM-in-waiting. This team has no captain but they want to win the match. It’s a fight of scheme versus scam,” he said.
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The debate also saw a heated war of words between the warring factions of the Shiv Sena over Hindutva.
Responding to Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena Uddhav faction MP) who said that Hindutva does not include “cowards”, Union minister Narayan Tatu Rane said that if the party had such high regard for Hindutva, they wouldn’t align with the Congress.
“If they love Hindutva so much, why did they betray Hindutva and go with the Congress in 2019? They are talking about Hindutva now?”
Rane has been part of both the Congress and the Shiv Sena in the past.
Sunita Duggal, BJP MP, said that the Opposition parties can adopt any name but wouldn’t win the 2024 elections.
“They can make any alliance, whether it is INDIA or ghamandiyaa [Hindi for ‘greedy’] – they cannot win the confidence of the people. Modi’s bhavishyavaani [prediction] will succeed and the BJP will form the government in 2024. And our goal is to bring a uniform civil code in parliament, and we will do that too,” she said.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju said that the Opposition alliance had brought the no-confidence motion against the Modi government at the wrong time and in the wrong manner.
“I want to tell on record that the Opposition will regret this no confidence motion which has been brought at the wrong time and in the wrong manner. India’s global image is only getting better and Modi has emerged as a global leader, and many believe that he can lead the world,” he said.
“World leaders come to India and want to work with India, G20 meetings are underway in many states. Under such circumstances, instead of standing with the government, they have brought a no-confidence motion – which is why I say they will suffer.”
“Even if you don’t support Modi or BJP, if India is moving forward, you should support us. You cannot oppose us and name yourselves INDIA. The country will not fall for this.”
Rijiju also said that under the Modi government, the issues of the Northeastern states have been highlighted, connectivity has been improved and coverage under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has been reduced by 75%.
Accusing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of not meeting leaders and MPs from the Northeast, Rijiju said that Modi had instructed a group of ministers to visit th Northeastern states every 15 days.
Later, the Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the government should furnish details of such visits.
“Yes, we all know about the frequency of visits of Union Ministers before any election. But it has been 97 days since the horrific ethnic violence broke out in Manipur. INDIA asks how many of Modi’s Ministers have been to Manipur?” Ramesh wrote.
During the No Confidence Motion in Lok Sabha, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has boasted about the Prime Minister’s directions to Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State to visit Northeast every 15 days.
Yes, we all know about the frequency of visits of Union Ministers before any…
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 8, 2023
“We challenge you to furnish details of the visits of Union ministers to Manipur in the last 97 days!”
Support from BJD
The government also found support from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), whose MP Pinaki Misra said that the no-confidence motion defies “common sense, political sense and logic”.
“Naveen Patnaik does not believe in needlessly picking fights with the central government,” he said while justifying his party’s stand to support the Modi government.
“The primary reason why this motion has been brought is to bring the PM to the house. But every time he is in the house, he puts the Congress to the shredder. Why do they want him to do that? This defies common sense, logic and political sense.
“The people of this country will decide whether it is right that the PM has not spoken in the house,” he said, adding that what is happening in Manipur is the result of “50-60 years of strife.”
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Row over Sansad TV ticker
The early hours of the debate also saw a row between the Opposition and treasury benches over ticker lines being run on Sansad TV that showed the government ministries’ achievements.
Opposition members interrupted BJP MP Dubey, who had just begun his speech, and raised concerns about the ticker during the no-confidence motion debate.
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said that he does not have the controls over what is being run. “Mere paas button nahi hai,” (Hindi for ‘I don’t have the button’) Birla said with a smile.
Subsequently, Birla said that he will look into it.
“Recently Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV have merged into Sansad TV. You have brought this matter to my notice and the team is looking into it. It will be stopped.”
Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, however, said that such a ticker always runs during parliamentary proceedings.
“Their speech is telecast live. Why are they so scared? The Opposition should not be so insecure,” he said.
The first day of the debate also included speeches from Communist Pary of India (Marxist) MP A.M. Arif, Congress MP Manish Tewari, Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N.K. Premachandran, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant and independent MP Navneet Rana, among others.
The debate is expected to continue on Wednesday (August 9) and Modi’s reply is expected on Thursday.