Article 355 imposed de-facto in state: Congress
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, January 22 2024:
Considering the prevailing situation in Manipur, Article 355 under the Indian Constitution, though not imposed de jure, is imposed defacto in the state, claimed Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee senior spokesperson Hareshwar Goshwami.
Addressing media persons at Congress Bhawan, here, on Monday, Hareshwar, who is also the MPCC vice president, said that ever since outbreak of the ethnic violence in the state on May 3 last year, there has been confusion on whether or not Article 355 is actually imposed in Manipur.
According to Article 355, the Union government is entrusted the task to protect states in the event of "external aggression and internal disturbance" .
The Supreme Court of India had mentioned that there is complete failure of law and order in the state of Manipur while union home minister Amit Shah went on record that the crisis in Manipur is due to the involvement of armed illegal immigrants from Myanmar.
The state government had also accepted the fact that the crisis is a fallout of aggression by the illegal immigrants from Myanmar.
However, the people have been in a dilemma on whether Article 355 is imposed in the state or not, he observed.
Noting the perplexing scenario over Article 355 in the state, Hareshwar said that union home minister Amit Shah had stated in the media in August last year that the Manipur security advisor, chief secretary and the DGP have been appointed by the centre.
The central government had intervened when the Kukis planned to bury bodies of the ethnic violence at Torbung Bangla.
Moreover, Amit Shah had also mentioned in the Lok Sabha that buffer zones have been created between Meetei and Kuki settlements while the Manipur home commissioner issued an order appointing IGP Ashutosh Sinha as the operational commander to contain the present crisis in Manipur and that he (Ashutosh Sinha) would work under security advisor Kuldiep Singh, who was appointed by an order of the state home department.
Considering all these developments, there is still confusion as to whether Article 355 is imposed in the state or not even as there is suspicion that violence in Manipur is fallout of inept handling of the sensitive issue, he maintained while wondering whether the orders issued by the state government were under pressure from the union government.
The MPCC vice president also questioned the rationale for the state government to merely follow directives of the union government rather than working as per the ground situation.
Therefore, it could be safely stated that though Article 355 is not imposed de jure, it is definitely imposed de-facto in the state.
The MPCC vice president shared his observations a day after CM N Biren chaired a meeting with representatives of 10 political parties to address the current situation in the state at the CM secretariat.
After the meeting, Congress Legislative Party leader Okram Ibobi had stated that the 10 political parties urged the chief minister to seek an appointment with the Prime Minister and his intervention to end the more- than-8-month-long crisis.