What to do if the Governor refers the New Bill on ILP to the President of India
- Part 2 -

Dr Khomdon Singh Lisam *

Sit-In and Rally to protest Killing of Student by Police firing and pro-ILPS on July 20 2015 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

Getting Assent of the Governor of Manipur

After observing the actions of His Excellency, the Governor of Manipur in case of "Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants & Migrant Workers Bill, 2015", we may anticipate that even if the Manipur State Assembly passed a perfect Bill in fulfillment of the demands of the JCLPS and the wishes of the people incorporating all the essential features, the Governor of Manipur, in all probabilities is likely to refer the Bill to the President of India under Article 201 of the Indian Constitution.

My fear is that the President of India may reject the Bill as unconstitutional. We should not forget the comments of and experience with Mr. Sushil Kumar Sinde, the then Union Home Minister, who is reported to have said, "Our Constitution will not allow such things. Any sensible person who believes in the Constitution will not pass such a bill." Although he is a member of the INC, no Congress leader in Manipur has got the guts and courage to question Mr. Sushil Kumar Sinde. How can Mr. Sinde say that a regulation which is in force in Arunachal, Nagaland, Mizoram be termed as "unconstitutional".

Getting Assent of the President of India

His Excellency, the President of India may require to be briefed about the need for implementation of the Inner Line Permit System in Manipur to correct the population imbalance and to protect the indigenous people (natives) of Manipur so as to enable him to give the assent. For this, we need to work in unity irrespective political difference in the greater interest of the people.

Just after sending the Bill to the Governor of Manipur, the Presidents and their team of political parties of Bharatiya Janata Party 282 MPs), Indian National Congress (44 MPs), All India Trinamool Congress (34 MPs), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (9 MPs) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (6 MPs) should leave Imphal immediately and camped at Delhi to do a lot of advocacy and lobbying with the Central Political Leaders to get the assent of the president.

Mr, Th. Chaoba Singh, President of BJP, Manipur with long years of experience enjoying the confidence of Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and his team should stay in Delhi and convince the Union Home Minister, the Prime Minister, BJP President and the President of India till the President of India signs the Assent. He should not try to shrug off his responsibility on some excuses and political difference. He and his team should not come back to Manipur till the President give his assent.

Similarly, all the presidents, secretaries of the, Indian National Congress, All India Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) should leave Manipur and camped in Delhi to advocate and lobby with the national party leaders till the assent of the President is obtained. If they failed to achieve this mission, the people may resort to many unwanted events including ban of national political parties in Manipur etc. We do not want to repeat the mistakes of 18 June, 2001.

What to do if the President of India reject to give assent to the New Bill

A single team of Manipur under the leadership of Shri O. Ibobi Sngh, Chief Minister of Manipur assisted by Shri Th. Chaoba Singh, President, BJP, presidents , Secretaries of All India Trinamool Congress, NCP and CPI, civil society representatives, constitutional Experts should meet the Union Home Minister, Prime Minister, President of India, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi. All appointments with national leaders should be fixed while they are still in Imphal.

Let us shed our ego, pride and arrogance for the sake of people. We may request His Excellency, the Governor of Manipur to work in greater interest of Manipur and meet the national leaders separately. I feel that there is no need for his Excellency to come back to Manipur without fulfilling the wishes of the people.

If the Home Minister, Prime Minister and the President are hell-bent on rejecting the bill, we should exact a promise to support our proposal for amendment of the constitution of India. We may warn them that if they reject all our demands, then there may be burning of Manipur and responsibility should lie with the Government of India.

Demands for Constitutional Amendments

We should have the courage to tell the central leaders that the Government of India has already committed a series of blunders to the people in Manipur during 1949-2001. Referring to the statement of G.K. Pillai, the then Union Home Secretary, which was published on 27 September, 2011 in the Telegraph newspaper, we can say that "the ancient kingdom of Manipur had a constitution even before India wrote her own and democracy was introduced in Manipur well before India became a democratic country.

But Manipur was reduced to a C-category state under the Indian Constitution in 1948. Nagaland was granted Statehood from a village republic in 1963 while Manipur with a proud history of more than 2000 years was granted statehood only in 1972. This blunder of the Government of India has resulted in creating insurgency problem in Manipur.

The existing Article 371C of the Indian Constitution is found to be extremely discriminatory and the source of all communal conflicts in Manipur which needs to be amended. The people of Manipur feel that that the Indian Constitution was imposed on Manipur without ratification. Manipur did not participate in the Indian Constitutional debate held during 9th december, 1946 to 24th January, 1950.

It was never ratified by the then Manipur State Assembly. Manipur has never asked the Government of India for constitutional amendment during the last 65 years. The Government of India is offering constitutional amendment just o satisfy Muivah, the General Secretary of NSCN-IM whereas we do not have the courage to ask for constitutional amendments.

We strongly feel that only after constitutional amendment, Manipur will be able to bring about communal harmony, unity, equality and solidarity among all ethnic groups of Manipur and achieve peace and development in Manipur. We can further mention that we, the people of Manipur request the Home Minister, Prime Minister, the President of India to find a permanent cure to these past blunders in Manipur and consider amendment of the Indian Constitution.

We can not ask for constitutional amendment off and on. Some civil societies are working on "Territorial Integrity:, some others are working on "Schedule Tribe Demand" while JCILPS is working on "Inner Line Permt System". All these demands require constitutional amendments. Surprisingly, they never ask for constitutional amendments. Further there are many core issues of Manipur which need constitutional amendments. Considering all these points, our demands for constitutional amendments may include the following :-

Main features of Constitutional Amendments

1. The Article 3 of Indian Constitution regarding alteration of state boundaries shall not apply in respect of Manipur to protect the 2000 year old territorial integrity of Manipur. The last experience of Telengana State formation with the blessings of Sonia Gandhi bypassing the state assembly was a very bad example.

2. The Union List and Concurrent list under the Indian Constitution pertaining to Manipur shall be taken up by the Government of India only with the concurrence of the State Legislative Assembly

3. Since 90% of Manipur is hill area, Manipur may be declared as a Hill State

4. All the ethnic groups in Manipur may be brought under an uniform land laws

5. Any person from other states of India will be allowed to purchase lands only with the approval of the State Government to protect the indigenous people of Manipur.

6. Any person from other states of India shall need an "Inner Line Permit" to enter Manipur on payment of nominal fees to protect the identity, culture, traditions, language, script of the Manipuris. Manipur welcomes all people from other states to visit Manipur. This will have retrospective effect since 18 November, 1950.

7. The Constitution should provide establishment of an upper house (Legislative Council) with a minimum of 40 members with 10 seats reserved for nomination.

8. The Number of Rajya Sabha MPs should be increased to seven (7) on the basis of equal representation of states as done in USA and other countries. Large and small states should be treated at par in the Rajya Sabha or Council of States.

9. The followers of Pakhangba –Sanamahi religion may be included under "Scheduled Tribe category" of the Indian Constitution to restore equality among the ethnic groups.

10. The Manipuri script (Meitei Mayek) should be included in the coins and currency bank notes

If the Home Minister, Prime Minister, the President of India fails to assure the constitutional amendment within a time frame even up to the last moment, the JCILPS in collaboration with other civil societies may launch a more serious, more severe, more intensive mass movement with the people of Manipur including non-cooperation, civil disobedience to achieve our goal. Our Political Leaders may take this single agenda issue with the Central Leaders. Our Chief Ministers with his MLAs and thousands of volunteers may launch a Dharna at the Jantar Mantar till the demand is given.

Concluded ...