We shouldn't let our mind be colonised: Oken-I
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 24 2018:
KYKL Chairman N Oken has categorically stated that the common people and intellectuals of Kangleipak (Manipur) should not let foreign powers colonise their mind, psyche and outlook even if they have been physically colonised.
The Chairman, in a statement sent to the press on the occasion of the outfit's 24th raising day (April 25), asserted that people should resist all attempts to colonise one's mind, psyche and outlook.
"We should always endeavour to live as ourselves.
The moment we give up this endeavour, we are as good as dead", Oken said.
On behalf of KYKL, the Chairman conveyed best wishes to the people of WESEA, Kangleipak, revolutionary organisations of WESEA, CSOs, intellectuals, academicians and media.
WESEA is an occupied territory of India and India is a prison for different communities, Oken alleged.
India is a State-Nation dominated by Hindi speaking people who have been occupying the peripheral regions in the name of federation.
All kinds of undemocratic and unethical means such as threat, coercion, deception, invasion etc were utilised without any restraint in forming the artificial country called India, he alleged.
People of WESEA have never ever willingly accepted the alleged occupation of the region by India.
Since 1956 till date, people of WESEA have been waging armed liberation movements.
Even though people have not backed away from the liberation movements in any significant manner, certain changes can be seen these days in the people's perception and outlook.
Before 1980, colonisation of mind seemed to be minimal even though the alleged physical colonisation was already there.
Except for a few groups of people who embraced the dominant religious faith of Indian people, colonisation of mind was not there among the greater majority.
But these days greater number of the people of WESEA have a tendency to adopt everything Indian as their own such as culture, dress, tradition, food habit, outlook, language, festivals, atrocities, ways of thinking, sense of beauty etc.
Many people feel if they can establish matrimonial relationship with Indian people they are complete and theyeven wish to transform their physical features into those of the Indians, asserted the KYKL Chairman.
It is this tendency of transforming oneself into an Indian that the people of the region as a whole became dispirited and degenerated.
This phenomenon is not restricted to the people of Kangleipak.
It is a common experience of all the communities of WESEA.
Election of BJP candidates in Nagaland where the overwhelming majority of people are Christians is a symptom of this common malady, Oken remarked.
Colonisation of mind and subsequent tendency to transform oneself into an Indian are visible more glaringly among the elites of the society, particularly political elites.
Common people following their footsteps may be assumed as a natural corollary.
When the Indian Prime Minister visited Manipur in 1972 to proclaim Manipur's Statehood, the welcome address was given in Manipuri (Meeteilon).
In total contradiction to what was seen in 1972, the Prime Minister was welcomed in Hindi when he visited Manipur mis year.
Again, such phenomenon is not restricted to Manipur alone.
The Governor of Meghalaya recently opened the State's Assembly session with a speech in Hindi.
The debate over the assertion that the people of WESEA and the Indian people are one and same which was resolved in 1970-80 seems to have resurfaced again, Oken remarked.
The Chief Minister felt no shame when he claimed that WESEA had been a part of India since the time of lord Krishna.
What the Chief Minister stated was artificial mythology which has no scientific basis.
It is possible that the Indian mythology was extended up to Arunachal Pradesh following the India-China War of 1962 with an objective to link Arunachal Pradesh with the mainland India, the KYKL Chairman continued.
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