IT News
Imphal, June 16:
Six students organisations of the state – The Manipuri Students’ Federation (MSF), Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM), Kangleipak Students’ Association (KSA), Students’ Union of Kangleipak (SUK), Apunba lreipakki Maheiroi Sinpang Lup (AIMS) and an oldest student body of Manipur has demanded the 50 MLAs of Manipur to go to Delhi and raise voices against the Kuki militants as 10 MLAs have supported the militants.
“The remaining 50 MLAs should go to Delhi and raise their voice against the Kuki militants. The 50 MLAs should demand the centre to abrogate the SoO agreement. We also appeal to the 50 MLAs to work unitedly forgetting their past differences”, a statement by the six students’ body said.
It also said that the 50 MLAs should immediately proceed to Delhi and warn the centre that they will resign and join hands with people if the Government of India does not protect the state’s territorial integrity and abrogate the SoO agreement. If any MLA or minister fails to do it, people of Manipur will take a decision to throw them out of Manipur, the students bodies warned.
The statement further said that at a time when the people are questioning the silence of the centre aftermath of the killing of civilians by Kuki militants, the UKLF has claimed that they had backed the BJP candidates in 2017 election. This has further strengthened the fear and suspicion among the common people against the government. People are suspecting that the centre is not taking any action against the Kuki militants because of the help these militants provided to BJP during elections. It could be possible that the Kuki militants supported the BJP during the election after getting an assurance that their demand of separate administration could be considered. If this is true, then the Government of India is playing divide and rule in Manipur.
“We demand the central BJP leadership to clarify its stand on the claims made by the UKLF. Otherwise, the people will boycott BJP and root out the party from the soil of Manipur. The Election Commission of India should also take up appropriate action on the claims made by UKLF” the statement said.
The students’ bodies said that the present crisis in the state was erupted due to instigation by vested interested persons by poppy planters forest encroachers.
The statement said that the Government of Manipur had decided to end the tripartite agreement from its side on March 10, 2023. Angered by the state government’s decision, the SoO militants instigated the common people and used their frontal organisations to push the state into chaos. As a result, on April 27, Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a militant group and its supporters burnt down an open gym at Churachandpur.
On April 28, ITLF called a total shutdown of Churachandpur against the eviction of encroachers from reserved forest area and defied the promulgation of CRPC 144 by District Magistrate. The next day on April 29 at 11 am, a team led by DGP held talks with six organisations of Churachandpur; and both sides agreed that additional security forces deployed in Churachandpur will be withdrawn by the government and the six organisations assured that there will be no more protest or agitation in Churachandpur, the statement added.
Despite the assurances given to the government, at around 5 pm on the same day, April 29, a mob attacked the house of one Oken at Thingangphai Meetei Leikai and burnt down his temple and flag of Meitei seven clans.
As part of their sinister design, they have started a move to topple the present government and start attacking the Meitei community. They were scared that their hidden agenda may get exposed. As part of a larger plan to target the Meetei community, they organised a Tribal Solidarity Rally on May 3 where armed Kuki militants took part and attacked Meetei settlements in the Kangvai area by burning down the houses and killing common people. Till today, Kuki militants are continuing their attacks on Meetei villages killing innocent civilians. It is unfortunate that the government has failed to control the Kuki militants. What surprised many is that despite the deployment of 40,000 additional troops in Manipur, the government could not stop the Kuki militants from attacking the innocent Meetei villagers. It is also found that some of the security personnel are openly siding with Kuki militants while some others indulged in unwanted incidents. All these led to common people losing faith in the security forces. Despite many deaths and the violence continuing for over one month, the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being questioned by many. People feel that the centre simply does not care about the state. On the other hand, ten Kuki MLAs have openly supported the Kuki militants’ demand for a separate administration or Kukiland. Despite the demand threatening the territorial integrity of Manipur, the government could not initiate any action against these ten MLAs. Some of the Kuki MLAs are the relatives of the leaders of SoO Kuki militants. These ten Kuki MLAs were financed and backed by Kuki militants during the election to further their demands. As this has come out in the open, why shouldn’t action be initiated against these MLAs.
What made the people unhappy is that these Kuki militants are openly violating the ground rules of SoO agreement and the government has not done anything. Of these 10 Kuki MLAs, 7 are from the ruling BJP. Why is the central BJP not trying to find a solution through these MLAs? Why is the state BJP not taking up any action against these 10 MLAs till today? Amidst all these, the open support given by some Para-military forces to Kuki militants led to the suspicion on the role of the Government of India.
