Shiv Sena asks Kuki MLAs to rethink
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, May 16 2023:
While opposing the demand for separate admin-istration raised by 10 Kuki MLAs, Shiv Sena Manipur president M Tombi asked the MLAs to rethink their demand.
Addressing a press meet at its office here on Monday, Tombi termed the demand for separate administration as unreasonable and inor-dinate.
He also advised the government to complete border fencing and deploy adequate security person-nel to check influx of illegal immigrants.
While opining that the communal clash was engi-neered by some groups of people in reaction against the government's crack-down on poppy cultivation and eviction of illegal en-croachers from reserved and protected forest areas, Tombi also maintained Meetei is an indigenous original inhabitant of Ma-nipur and they have every characteristics of a tribal community in the Indian context.
The May 3 rally was organised against the order of the High Court of Manipur, which directed the state government to submit its reply regarding the ST demand for Meet& Meitei to the Central government.
Unfortunately, some mobs carried attacked and torched houses in Chura-chandpur district, which sparked state-wide clash.
The dissenting bodies could have registered their griev-ances to the government but directing their anger on in-nocent civilians is uncalled for, he said.
The president also said that there was an uprising by Khongsai community during 1920 to 1923 but it was never termed as An-glo- Kuki war, which is a relatively new term coined with an attempt to fabri-cate history.
On the other hand, the demand for ST is a matter, which should be discussed in the parliament, and it needs approval of the President of the country.
This demand is in the re-search stage and is a simple proposal for restoring the ST status, he said.
He also expressed strong resentment that mobs and armed militants are target-ing peripheral Meetei villag-es and demanded that out-fits involved in the attacks should be declared terrorist organisations.