No Confidence Motion: 'You define corruption in India': Smriti Irani hits back after Rahul Gandhi’s Manipur remark

Rahul Gandhi kicked off the no confidence motion debate from the side of the Opposition in Lok Sabha today, the Congress MP from Wayanad a scathing attack on PM Modi during the no confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha today, and stated that “from Manipur to Nuh, you have set the entire country on fire.” “BJP’s politics has murdered India in Manipur… BJP is anti-national,” he added. Responding to Rahul Gandhi's speech, Union minister Smriti Irani targetter Congress and said, You are not India, you define corruption in India'. The Parliament resumed at 11 am for the second day of the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government. Congress Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi had initiated the no confidence debate on Tuesday, saying that the Opposition has brought this motion for Manipur. The 16-hour debate is expected to continue till Thursday (August 10), when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to give his reply.

On the first day, a verbal spat between the government and the Opposition alliance was witnessed after Rahul Gandhi made a last-minute decision to not initiate the debate. At least 120 people have been killed since May in armed clashes in Manipur, a remote state in northeast India with a history of ethnic conflict. The dispute stems from animosity between Manipur's Meitei majority and the Kuki, one of several tribal groups in the state that make up about 16 percent of its population. The Meitei are predominantly Hindu and largely live in urban centres, while the mainly Christian Kuki usually live in scattered settlements in the state's hills. Things came to a head in May over plans to recognise the Meitei as a "Scheduled Tribe" -- a status already conferred upon the Kuki. This would grant them a form of affirmative action through guaranteed quotas of government jobs and college admissions.Kuki groups staged protests over fears the plans could reduce their own entitlements, with rallies quickly spiralling into violence. Protesters set fire to vehicles and buildings, and Meitei mobs armed with guns and petrol cans then attacked Kuki settlements in the hills..