SOREPA shares thoughts on raising day-I
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 30 2022:
The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SOREPA), Kangleipak has greeted all the revolutionary groups of WESEA, Manipur (Kangleipak) and the masses on the first raising day of the outfit.
On the occasion of its raising day anniversary (October 1), the outfit paid tributes to all the revolutionaries who had paid with their lives in the struggle to restore the sovereignty of Manipur/Kangleipak.
A statement issued by the outfit's Chairman Toijam Ibochou reminded that Cuba's Fidel Castro started his revolutionary movement with 82 people.
The Chairman then asserted that number does not matter but what matter are dedication to the cause and correctness of the revolutionary policy.
According to the statement, Lamyanba Irabot witnessed the First Nupi Lan of 1904 with his own eyes and he grew amid the miserable socio-economic and political situation of the then Manipur.
Irabot went underground on September 21, 1948 and he died on September 26, 1951 .
Irabot sacrificed everything to establish egalitarian societies in the entire South East Asia including Kangleipak through mass revolutions, it said.
Instead of enjoying a life of luxury and comfort to which he was entitled as a Durbar Member, Irabot dedicated his life to the cause of the suffering masses.
Irabot's ideals and objectives merit deeper study in the context of the contemporary revolutionary movement, Ibochou said.
He said that Irabot fought against both British imperialism and Hindu imperialism.
He also fought against religious oppression meted out to common people by the Brahma Sabha which was patronised by the royal palace.
It was Lamyanba Irabot who introduced a culture of holding sports events during the Yaoshang festival.
As a result of his visionary initiative, sports persons of the land are now able to win medals at international championships including the Olympics.
Irabot not only fought for the rights of peasants and workers but also laid the foundation of a strong liberation movement, the SOREPA leader said.
Guided by a vision that all the countries of South East Asia should exist as independent countries with mutual respect, Irabot had even talked with the then revolutionary groups of Myanmar who believed in socialism for a collective struggle.
When the revolutionary movement suffered serious setbacks, many of his followers opted to surrender to the Government but Irabot stood firm and fought for an independent country based on socialism till his last breath, Ibochou said.
He then called upon all the people to follow the footsteps of Irabot and take a collective decision to take the revolutionary movement forward.
Categorically asserting that Manipur existed as a sovereign country in South East Asia for thousands of years even though it came under foreign occupation for brief periods at different points of time, Ibochou maintained that every Nation experienced glorious moments as well as downfalls in the course of its history and Manipur was no exception.
Now the present generation of Manipuri people are passing through a phase of bondage.
The contemporary period is a living history of waging a liberation movement, reads the statement.
It said, "Our history and the way we are living our life should inform each of us that we have been colonised, subjugated and our rights have been forfeited" .
Education should be basically about inventing ideas and means out of the knowledge and wisdom accumulated from books in order to achieve the right to self-determination, it said.
But the present generation of Manipuri people are unable to bring forth new ideas and wisdom even though a large number of them has obtained high status of educational qualifications, it continued.
The revolutionary cadres and leaders have also been reading many books on revolutions but they are still unable to chalk out a revolutionary movement suitable to the soil of the land, according to the statement.
Oral history, Anthropological studies and Archeological research revealed that the people of Kangleipak were quite advanced since the Paleolithic Age, it claimed.
A study of the written history revealed that successive kings ruled Kangleipak since 33 AD and it proved that Kangleipak existed as an independent country for thousands of years, the SOREPA Chairman asserted.
He then underscored the importance of studying how the people of Manipur came under Indian rule and how they manage to live under the alien occupation.