Manipur and the response
In a way, the no-confidence motion that the Opposition has moved against the Union government on the Manipur issue has become redundant. Or at least the task has been made easier for the Opposition after the Supreme Court of India’s strident observation that the “systemic” and “unprecedented magnitude” of sexual violence committed against the women in Manipur amid ethnic clashes cannot be excused on the ground that such crimes are happening to several other women in other parts of the country too. The Union government might have thought that by equating such incidents in non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-governed States, it could silence the Opposition. The top court has given a fitting reply to such attempts of the Union government to make light of the incidents in Manipur. Had similar incidents happened in non-BJP-governed States, the government would have promulgated President’s Rule. A court-constituted investigation itself is proof that the so-called double engine sarkar has been a total failure.
V.N. Gopal,
