Five CSOs boycott Republic Day
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 25 2019:
Five major civil society organisations of the State namely; AMUCO, UCM, CCSK, HERICOUN and LIPUN have decided to boycott the Republic Day celebrations tomorrow against the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) 2016 in the Lok Sabha on January 8 .
This was announced during a press meet held today at the UCM office by leaders of the five CSOs.
UCM president Sunil Karam called upon all the people to stand united and fight the Bill collectively.
He appealed to all local clubs and Meira Paibi organisations to boycott the Republic Day celebration and stage protest demonstrations at their respective localities while the Government is celebrating the Republic Day.
Sunil further appealed to all local clubs and Meira Paibi activists to shout slogans like "Withdraw CAB 2016", "We condemn celebration of the Indian Republic Day in Manipur and the North East region" etc.
Remarking that the passage of CAB 2016 in the Lok Sabha has pushed all the indigenous people of the North East region in a very precarious situation, the UCM president asserted that the people and Governments of the North Eastern States have been opposing the Bill from the day it was drafted.
He then demanded the Government of India to withdraw the unpopular Bill immediately.
He said that the CSOs have been compelled to boycott the Republic Day celebration as the Government of India has been scheming to assimilate all the minority indigenous communities of the North East region into the majority communities of mainland India.
Sunil informed that a joint meeting of all CSOs would be held at Hotel Imphal at 11.30 am of January 28 with the twin objectives of exerting strong pressure on both the State Government and the Central Government not to pass the contentious Bill in the Rajya Sabha and at the same time add momentum to the ongoing civil movement against the Bill.
The meeting will adopt a concrete decision on the modes of agitation which would be most effective to get the Bill withdrawn.
Saying that UCM, AMUCO, CCSK, HERICOUN and LJJPUN would jointly host the meeting, Sunil appealed to all CSOs of the State to come and participate in the meeting.
All efforts would be made to set up a committee or forum so that the ongoing civil movement can be further intensified, he said.
AMUCO president Ph Deban said that the CAB 2016 is a Bill aimed at annihilating all the indigenous people of the North East.
Identity, culture and tradition of all indigenous people of the North East will be wiped out once the Bill becomes an Act.
It is an inescapable duty and responsibility of all indigenous communities of the North East to stand united and collectively fight the Bill.
Asserting that the Government of India is yet to make any change to the way it deals with the North East region, the AMUCO president asked all the people to decide whether they ought to join the Republic Day celebration or not.