Indian minister resigns in violence protest

An Indian cabinet minister has resigned in protest at the government’s failure to act against recent Hindu-Muslim violence that has claimed 900 lives in the western state of Gujarat.

Ram Vilas Paswan, the Minister for Coal and Mines, handed his resignation to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today, but it is unclear if he accepted it.

The resignation comes on the eve of a parliament debate on an opposition motion to censure the

government over its handling of the sectarian violence in Gujarat.

The four MPs from Mr Paswan’s People’s Power Party, one if 19 groups in Vajpayee’s ruling coalition, are to vote against the government at the end of tomorrow’s debate.