Modi to grace Sangai Festival closing ceremony as chief guest
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, November 24 2014:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive here on November 30 in an hour-long visit to Manipur to attend the closing ceremony of the ongoing Sangai Festival, according to reliable sources.
Besides gracing the closing ceremony of the biggest tourism festival of the state as chief guest, Modi is likely to lay the foundation stone for the proposed Sports University at Kangla Fort.
Meanwhile, preparations for taking up security measures for the Prime Minister's visit have begun, official sources said.
The Prime Minister will land at Imphal Tulihal International Airport, from where he will proceed to Kangla Fort for the foundation stone laying ceremony of the sports university, before attending the closing function of Sangai Festival.
Narendra Modi is slated to leave Imphal for Nagaland on the same day to attend the inauguration of the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland, which starts on December 1.After that, he will fly to Kolkata to attend a meeting of Chief Ministers of eight North Eastern states.
The state BJP workers are gearing up to welcome Modi with party flags and posters of the Prime Minister, according to party sources, which said that during the visit, Modi will also inaugurate the newly constructed Syama Prasad Mookerjee Hall at the state BJP office complex.
Meanwhile, the Maoist Communist Party (MCP), Manipur has called a 17-hour general strike from the midnight of November 29 till 5 pm of November 30 to boycott the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the State to grace the closing ceremony of Sangai Festival.
In a press statement issued by MCP's Publicity and Propaganda Secretary Nonglen Meitei, the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has nothing to do with the people of Manipur.
He would be coming to enjoy a festival and not to address the grievances of the people.
He would be coming to execute plans to loot Manipur and not for any kind of development.
The people of Manipur have been demanding the Indian Government to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), implement Inner Line Permit System, probe multi-crore Loktak Cleaning Project and stop construction of Tipaimukh Dam.
However, all these demands have been sidelined by the Indian Government.
The MCP has decided to boycott the visit of Narendra Modi not as a ritualistic boycott of any Prime Minister of India by an insurgent outfit, but to express the angst of the common people of Manipur who have been neglected and suppressed for years by the Indian Government, the statement said.
The Maoist Communist Party also appealed to all to support the general strike and boycott the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Manipur on November 30 .