MESO blames Centre for Manipur violence
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, November 09 2023:
As part of 'North East Wide Agitation' of North East Students' Organisation (NESO) against central government's alleged failure to address the violence in Manipur, a student body organised a sit-in protest at Keishampat Leimajam Leikai community hall on Thursday.
Speaking to media persons at the protest, NESO assistant secretary general W Sanatomba Meitei informed that protests were being held in all NE states in denunciation of the central government's failure to initiate any notable step to resolve the six-month long violence in-spite of state government admitting that law and order situation is not under control.
On top of this, Union home minister Amit Shah himself had seated in the Parliament that the situation in Manipur is abetted by illegal immigrants while external affairs minister S Jaishankar blamed illegal immigrants for the crisis , in a statement at US Consulate.
But these are only words as reality is that no concrete action has been taken by centre which has raised posers amongst the NE indigenes whether it is part of India or not, he stressed.
Sanatomba continued that the centre must resolve the issue at the earliest, failing which it will resort to various forms of agitation.
In Assam, All Assam Students' Union (AASU), one of the NESO members, demonstrated in Guwahati and demanded that immediate action be taken so that peace returns to Manipur which has been affected by ethnic strife for the last six months.
"It is indeed a shame that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained silence on the Manipur issue while Union Home Minister Amit Shah has taken no step to resolve the crisis," AASU Advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya told reporters.
The North Eastern states want to give a message to the people of Manipur that they are not alone but the indigenous people of the region are with them in their hour of crisis, he added.
NESO Chairman Samuel Jyrwa said that the central government has failed to address the situation and has jeopardised people's lives and property, particularly the future of the student community.
"The purpose of the protest is to voice our deep dissatisfaction with the central government's inability to put an end to the violence that has been raging in Manipur for the past six months ", he said.
In Nagaland's capital Kohima, a demonstration was organised by the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) under the aegis of NESO while a sit-in-demonstration was held in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, to condemn the central government's alleged failure to resolve the Manipur issue.