Is an armed insurgency looming in Manipur? | DW News

The Indian parliament has been debating a no-confidence motion against the government of Narendra Modi. The opposition wants to force him to address the conflict in Manipur from the floor of Parliament.

Ethnic clashes are in their fourth month and have killed over 180 people in the remote state, where Modi's BJP party is in power. Over 3 Million people live in the mountainous region on India's border with Myanmar. Tens of thousands have fled the violence, mainly to government camps. Fighting between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki communities continues to claim lives. There've also been widespread protests over sexual assaults involving members of both sides.

Indian authorities have instituted curfews and clashed with protesters, leaving many people injured and the internet has been shut down since the conflict began. DW's Adil Bhat returned to Manipur for us and found that calls for a separate Kuki state are growing.

For more we talk to Dr. Ajai Sahni. He’s the Director of the Institute for Conflict Management, he focuses on conflict in South Asia and joins us from Delhi. We ask him: Manipur has a decades-long history of conflict. Can you tell us what's different about the violence this time?

And we talk to Prof. Kishalay Bhattacharjee from the Jindal School of Journalism in India.

Last but not least we talk to Adil Bhat, who filed the report for us.

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