Imphal, September 26: Taking note of the series of visits by Indian political leaders to Manipur in the last few days, the proscribed UNLF said that their purpose may be apparently different but their timing and their remarks betray a common tune and that is to disorient the people from the plebiscite floated by the outfit.

In a statement issued to the press today, the outfit said that first Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived followed by CPI leader Gurudas Das Gupta and later by George Fernandes.

The outright rejection of the plebiscite by Mukherjee and Gupta was not unexpected as they are from the Government but the observation of George Fernandes that the Indian Constitution needs to be amended for the plebiscite to fructify is certainly interesting, said the statement.

Training its guns on CPI leader Gurudas Das Gupta, the UNLF said that his self contradictory remarks exposed him as a bundle of confusion.

His reported remark, "As Manipur is a small State it will not survive independently even if it got independence from the Indian Union," is a contemptuous insult to the people of Manipur.

"Gupta should know that the history of Manipur did not begin with the annexation by India in 1949," said UNLF and added that Manipur existed as an independent Nation for many centuries.

Manipur is also the first country in South Asia to hold democratic elections under the universal franchise in 1948, it added.

On Gupta's observation that "independence is an imperialist slogan" and that "a small State like Manipur would subsequently fall under the domination of bigger and developed countries like America," UNLF said that such a stand is ridiculous and exposes the Left's leader's dogmatic and outdated outlook.

By the same logic, it would mean that Gupta still does not recognise the independence of India from the British imperialist.

The outfit explained that regaining independence is an essential stage for the "democratic revolution" to restore the genuine rights of the people, particularly to free the peasants from exploitation. On the statement of Gupta that cases like that of Manorama do not happen only in Manipur, UNLF countered if he can name another State in India where the Indian military and para-military forces have been given the power to commit such grave human rights violation in a systematic manner for over 50 years.

The 'violence' in Manipur is the effect of the terror being used to suppress the legitimate aspira- tions of the people, UNLF claimed.

On the concern shown by Gupta that Manipur will not survive because of its small size, the statement there are many countries much smaller than Manipur which have attained independence and are doing as well as the bigger countries. When the world has become a global village it is not size that matters but human resources and with the rich human resources available in Manipur there are areas where Manipur can do better than India, claimed the outfit.

Comment