Student bodies raise boycott R-Day call
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 25 2024: Asserting that the Government of India is responsible for the current conflict in Manipur, six student bodies have urged the public to boycott the Republic Day celebration on January 26 .

The six student bodies urged people to display and wear black badges/flags.

The student bodies include Manipuri Students' Federation (MSF), Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur (DESAM), Kangleipak Students' Association (KSA), Students' Union of Kangleipak (SUK) and Apunba Imagi Machasing (AIMS) .

In a joint statement released to the media, the student bodies asserted that the present conflict in Manipur isn't ethnic but a calculated plot to grab land and form a greater homeland for Kukis.

The student bodies said the Kukis have used their status as a minority to wrongly portray the conflict as religious in nature.

The attack on indigenous Meitei community is an elaborate plan to grab land, change the demography by ethnically cleaning indigenous communities from areas they dominate, and implant colonies of illegal immigrants from Myanmar.

They seek to create their own safe haven for furthering poppy cultivation and illicit drug trafficking.

The attacks on security forces and Government institutions, and burning down of forest offices in the hills are clear examples that show their ambition, said the student bodies.

The six bodies said "there are violent conflicts wherever Kukis reside".

There have been many violent conflicts involving Kukis in Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Chittagong Hills.

There is also widespread deforestation and large scale poppy cultivation in all Kuki dominated areas in Manipur, said the student bodies.

While there is large-scale poppy cultivation in these areas in the hills dominated by Kukis, the Kuki civil society organisations and their Churches have not said a word against such practices, the student bodies said.

The Central Government has sent over 70,000 troops in Manipur since the start of the violence on May 3.However, these troops have failed to contain violence and thwart the attacks of the armed Kuki militants.

There is suspicion if the Government of India is carrying out a "proxy war" in Manipur, said the student bodies.

The Government of India may have signed the Suspension of Operation (SoO) with Kuki militants in 2005 to help it in its counter insurgency operations.

This suspicion has now become clearer, they said.

Comment