Revisiting Manipur Hunger March, 1965

Professor Naorem Sanajaoba *

July and August, 1965 was hot. Hotter still was the restive lower middle class who constituted ninety per cent of the population, who had virtually no representative in actual sense of the term in the governance.

For two three weeks the womenfolk of the city begged rice from their own officials who recurrently promised to issue ration cards, but did not keep their words probably to get undue favours from the Mayang rulers and the Meetei quisling-bureaucrats.

Koireng Ministry and the loyal servants were apathetic to the then ongoing demands for ration cards and rice, made by the Manipuri womenfolk. The popular explosion, hence, occurred all of a sudden on the fateful day - the 27th August, 1965 at around 10 am.

Every one simply calls it today – the 27th August.

Thousands of people, largely students and womenfolk from all directions, led possibly by the leftist volunteers by and large, converged like flood water in BT road, Imphal-Dimapur road and at every inch of the then open, vast pologround.

A conservative report states that the protesters touched a magic figure of half a lakh- the biggest ever in the contemporary post-independence history of that epoch. Three four leaders including the recently elected D.M. College General Secretary addressed at the massive show of hunger marchers at the pologround.

The mass demanded the government to fulfil three major demands viz., assurance in writing for providing ration cards forthwith, keeping food reserves for the Manipur people, among others. The copy of the handwritten resolutions might be with the Government even today. At around 1 pm, the mass meeting concluded, and the resolutions had been sent to the State Government, then camping at Chief Commissioner’s bungalow.

On the verbal invitation of the Chief Minister, Chief Commissioner and the Ministry, six leaders including DMC General Secretary Naoria, GPW general secretary Ms. Joyshakhi, Ibohal and three more leaders negotiated with the entire administrative team for fulfilling the popular demands which had been long overdue.

The DMC General Secretary stated in English, the plight of the common man for nearly two three weeks and the press reports, largely from the Prajatantra, among others, and spoke in English to convince the Indian top brass also, the alarming threat posed by shortage of food, hunger to the common man [not necessarily the burgeois and their opportunistic class that did not care at all, but ridiculed the entire movement].

Partly convinced was a Senior Congress leader, the father of late Ningthemacha Joychandra, ex-CM, yet the whole top brass stood firm not to issue any written assurance whatsoever. That defining moment did not turn the clock back.

Turmoil happened, microphones were turned towards the oppressive regime, skirmished occurred and at around 2 or 2.30 pm, an unprecedented firing had been done by the state forces, intermittently for quite along time. The Imphal area people heard the sound of history in the making.

The Northern Gate of CC compound had been locked and the whole terror had been let loose, firing, thrashing, stampeding, bayonetting, Indian sepoys cutting the cycles. That was a reality show of the ugliest face of state that would shake the ship of future Manipur history like never before.

Manipur had not turned the face back to an irreversible past and the gen-Next of the 1960s made a search deep into the wounded past while looking at a distant shore. Besides, since the 1950s, Manipuri nationalism had been looking for an opening. Not so long ago, in 1939, womenfolk rose against the King-British-Mayang alliance that starved the Manipur people.

Some were dead, more could have been dead but for the NCC training the students had got, fifty were grievously injured, hundred were assaulted and sixteen including the one whom, Mr Chatterjee- the commander had openly called as ring leader had been made captive till they had been released in September and the AMSU had been officially formed on 12 September, 1965 by all the student leaders who packed the entire MDU hall.

Inspite of prolonged demand for judicial inquiry, Delhi Government constituted a Mitra Administrative Commission which blamed a part of the firing unjustified and waived tactfully, another part of the firing.

The parliament rose to its feet and condemned the firing and the events that lead to the historic event. More research works would reveal the currents and cross currents of history.

Modern Manipur history could figure a couple of defining points that render an intelligible curve to perceptive minds. Only a truth commission would be able to unearth a 'colonial' conspiracy hatched by the oppressive regime and its native opportunistic supporters on the wrong side of history.