PROCEEDINGS of both houses of Indian parliament were adjourned on Monday after a ruckus over violence in the north-eastern state of Manipur, Indian media reported.

Opposition members in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha demanded a debate on the issue and disrupted proceedings by shouting slogans and holding placards, BBC News reported.

Home Minister Amit Shah said the government was ready for a discussion but opposition members in the lower house, Lok Sabha, called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the lower house, according to India Today.

As the day ended in a stalemate, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to key opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s T. R. Baalu at night, the Indian Express said.

Amit Shah says govt ready for debate on wave of violence in the north-eastern state

In Rajya Sabha, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar suspended Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh for the remaining session over “repeated violations”.

Tensions have escalated in Manipur since May and at least 120 people have been killed in an ethnic conflict between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki tribes.

Last week, a humiliating video surfaced which reportedly shows two Kuki women being forced to strip naked and then jeered at and harassed by Meitei men in May. On Sunday, the United States expressed concerns over the videos.

A US State Department spokesperson called the incident “brutal” and “terrible” and said the United States conveyed its sympathies to the victims.

The United States encouraged a peaceful and inclusive resolution to the Manipur violence and urged authorities to respond to humanitarian needs while protecting all groups, homes, and places of worship, the State Department spokesperson said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Thursday condemned the assault as “shameful” and promised tough action.

Speaking publically about the Manipur clashes for the first time since they erupted in May, Mr Modi said his “heart is filled with pain and anger”.

“The Manipur incident is shameful for any civilised society,” he told reporters. “It has shamed the whole nation.” DY Chandrachud, chief justice of India’s Supreme Court, said the abuse of the women seen in the video was “simply unacceptable”.

Legal news site Bar and Bench quoted Chandrachud as saying that if the government “does not act, we will”.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2023