SOREPA calls general strike on Aug 15-I
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 08 2023: The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SOREPA), Kangleipak has called a general strike on August 15, the Independence Day of India.

A statement issued by SOREPA publicity and organisation secretary MC Yaiphabi alleged that India has been scheming to exterminate Kanglei/Manipuri people after forcibly annexing Kangleipak/Manipur.

More than 35 ethnic communities have been living together in Kangleipak for thousands of years with each ethnic community enjoying a level of socio-political and economic autonomy, it said.

SOREPA said that it would stand firm with the people in their fight against all those elements which have been plotting to balkanise Manipur after overlooking the fact that Manipur existed as a sovereign Nation of several ethnic communities for more than 2000 years, it said.

After Manipur's defeat in the 1891 Anglo-Manipur War, the British rulers followed a divide and rule policy under which the valley was administered by the king while the areas were administered by the British officers.

This created a sense of division among the indigenous communities of the land, it said.

Creating internal divisions and conflicts is a very productive means of suppressing liberation move- ments.

This is exactly what the Government of India is doing in Manipur/Kangleipak, SOREPA alleged.

The erstwhile sovereign Manipur/Kangleipak was not built by a single ethnic group but its history of a collective history of Mangang, Luwang, Khu-man, Angom, Moirang, Kha-nganba, Sarang Leishangthem, Aimol, Anal, Chiru, Chothe, Hmar, Kharam, Khoibu, Koirao, Kom, Lamkang, Liangmai, Mao, Maram, Maring, Monsang, Moyon, Poumai, Purum, Kabui, Tangkhul (Luhuppa), Tarao, Thadou, Thangal, Nongpok Haram and Nongchup Haram.

Khongjais who were allowed to settle in the southern hill ranges by benevolent Manipuri kings in the 18th and 19th centuries should not be left out, SOREPA said.

But the way Khongjais and some other communities of Manipur have been challenging the integrity of Manipur lately is a matter of grave concern.

They must retract their steps immediately and focus on peaceful co-existence with all other communities within united Manipur/Kangleipak, SOREPA said.

It then appealed to the Khongjai people not to subscribe to the false and fabricated history manufactured by intruders.

Khongjai people who have been settling here since the 18th/19th century should not allow intruders and drug lords from Myanmar to mislead them, it said, adding that the ongoing conflict is not a religious conflict.

Ethno-nationalism and clannism only tend to disintegrate a Nation/country, it said.

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