KYKL elucidates on crisis besieging Manipur
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 23 2025:
The proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) has conveyed its greetings to the people of Kangleipak and WESEA region including revolutionary groups, students, intellectuals, CSO leaders, farmers, teachers etc on the occasion of its 31st foundation day which falls on April 25 .
In a lengthy 13 page statement, the outfit chairman N Oken first wished for the safe return of those in relief camps to their native places, allowing them to rebuild their lives.
He encouraged the people and intellectuals of Kangleipak to share their views on the revolutionary movement with the outfit.
Oken said that the ongoing crisis in Manipur is approaching its two-year mark but the situation remains dire and unresolved.
Stating that India's role in the crisis is confusing, he added that different measures taken by the Government of India (GoI) to resolve the crisis are contradictory and lack logic.
He accused the Central leaders of making promises they don't intend to keep.
The chairman alleged that top Central leaders' views and narratives on the Manipur crisis lack consistency, shifting every 5-6 months.
He also said that there is no coordination among the Central security forces too in handling the crisis and alleged that the Central leaders' shifting narratives only serve to confuse the people and obscure the reality of the situation.
Accusing the GoI of orchestrating the Meitei-Kuki clash and attempting to prolong the conflict, N Oken alleged that the Central Government allows its security forces to take sides while keeping the elected Government under tight control.
No adequate funds are also sanctioned for those whose houses were either burnt or flattened, he charged.
He also claimed that military actions are taken in areas where bullets fell, targeting the affected areas rather than holding the actual attackers accountable.
Further alleging that GoI facilitates illegal immigration instead of checking it, Oken asserted that the relationship between India and Manipur is now unclear.
Oken said that people need to shift their perspective to understand the relationship between India and Manipur.
People of Manipur won't understand the reality of the Meitei-Kuki clash or be able to strategise their future and navigate the State's politics if they're confined to the narrative dictated by Indian authorities, he claimed.
He stated that Manipuri society existed for centuries without external assistance before merging with India, but now, despite receiving an annual budget of Rs 30,000 to 40,000 crore, the number of poor people has increased.
Continuing that disunity now prevails among Manipuris, and Manipur society has fallen into corruption with people thinking only for themselves, he alleged that politics in Manipur has also been reduced to a business with leaders only vying for wealth and position.
He further claimed that political leaders in Manipur have become obedient servants to "colonial India" rather than working for the welfare of their own people.
Oken went on to claim that many revolutionary groups, which initially emerged to stand for truth, now get involved in corruption while many youths are succumbing to drugs.
There won't be a solution to the chronic issues plaguing Manipur until people shift their perspective on the India-Manipur relationship, Oken said.
Further alleging that the relationship between India and Manipur is not what is written in the Indian Constitution but more of colonialism, the KYKL chairman alleged that all WESEA region including Manipur is a colonial subject of India.
Meetei, Naga, Kuki, Pangal are colonised people, he alleged , claiming that India is a big empire of Hindi heartland.
People of Manipur must recognize their colonial status under India to understand the Meitei-Kuki clash, he claimed and alleged that Indian leaders allow people to kill each other because they view Manipur as a colonized subject.
He went on to claim that India has been implementing an imperial project in Manipur by letting the crisis persist.
Oken charged that India orchestrated the criss in Manipur but expects Meitei and Kuki to resolve them, calling this approach a colonial technique.
He said that colonialism is a process where a powerful Nation or community dominates over others, imposing its will without restraint.
Manipur didn't become a colonial subject of India the day it was annexed in 1949, but the process ultimately led to colonization over the years, he claimed.
Creating division among people is a colonial policy, he said and claimed that India's treatment of Manipur constitutes colonialism.
He accused the GoI of implementing a divide and eliminate policy in Manipur.
Today, Meiteis and Kukis are violent with one another, Oken said and maintained that desecration of religious sites, on the other hand, is an example of cultural violence.
He claimed that the crisis and subsequent violence in Manipur are the result of "colonial India's policy" .
N Oken claimed that India started suppressing the people of Manipur after imposing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 .
Claiming that many women have been defiled, many people killed, and numerous villages in hill districts have been burnt following the imposition of AFSPA, he alleged that Manipur has been under 'Military Rule' all these years.
Saying that people of Manipur now have a dependency and inferiority complex due to years of subjugation, he added that the more their inferiority complex grows, the more India will have a superiority complex.
Citing all these reasons, Oken concluded that people of Manipur will change their perspective and think of a decolonization strategy once they accept that they are colonized by India.
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