Freedom is our birthright : Irengbam Chaoren-I
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 24 2014: Irengbam Chaoren, president of the proscribed Revolutionary People's Front (RPF) has categorically stated that 'freedom is our birthright' must be the common voice of all oppressed or colonised people.

"We are equally eligible for all the rights enjoyed by people anywhere on the planet", the RPF chief asserted in his message given to the people of Manipur on the occasion of the 36th raising day of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Notably, PLA is the armed wing of RPF.

The Indian neo-colonial regimes have failed to display the main objective of a democratic system such as sovereignty, social emancipation, development, security, peace and the establishment of equality and this failure suggests inability to overcome the inherent structural crisis.

If the structural violence and social inequality seen all over India are any indication, India and its form of Government is anything but democracy.

There can no provision for perpetuating colonial rule in any democratic set-up.

It is a common knowledge that colonised people are not given most of the fundamental rights enjoyed by free men, said the RPF leader.

"It must be our common voice that freedom is our birth right", Chaoren asserted.

On the occasion of the PLA's 36th raising day (September 25), Chaoren conveyed deepest respects to all the people of Manipur apart from offering revolutionary salute to all the heroes who laid down their precious lives in the course of the revolutionary movement.

The Second World War brought colonialism to an end in many colonised Nations and countries but many other Nations missed this historical opportunity and they are still struggling for independence.

The armed revolutionary movement of Syria, Basque Nationality Movement in Spain, Zapastita Movement in Mexico, Latin American people's struggle against US dominance, Tamil Nationality Movement in Sri Lanka, Maoists Movement in India, the question of Kashmir nationality, numerous liberation movements of Western South East Asia (WESEA) are some of the major contemporary anti-imperialist movements.

Among them, the question of Manipur's sovereignty always occupies a prominent position.

Manipur was among the many Nations which regained their sovereignty at the end of the Second World War.

After drafting a democratic Constitution, Manipur started its first experiment with modern representative Government.

But it was nipped in the bud when India, freed from the British colonial yoke just two years back, adopted their colonial master's policy of imperialism and forcibly annexed Manipur on September 21, 1949.In the process to establish modern India, more than 565 independent Nations/kingdoms were coerced, forced and annexed into the Indian Union which was shaped and realized in the shadow of British imperialism.

The nationality questions of Kashmir and Manipur are the undeniable testimonies of how the Government of India has been subjecting different erstwhile independent Nations to colonialism or neo-colonialism.

The collective voice of Manipuri people for independence after their tryst with freedom and representative Government was cut short was a historical necessity.

It is a National tragedy that different sections of Manipuri people have different interpretations and perspectives on the ongoing liberation movement which inadvertently have been abetting consolidation of the colonial rule.

Such divergent views project the liberation movement in the wrong light and tend to impede the legitimate movement.

Imperial India is well adept in capitalising on this disunity and they quickly bred a comprador class.

This comprador class and the so-called elites though small in number, pose a formidable hurdle to the liberation movement.

They play sycophancy to their alleged colonial masters (India) and in return derive power and wealth to exploit the oppressed mass.

These handful of people eventually take refuge in Indian electoral politics and join hands with their colonial masters in looting invaluable natural resources of WESEA.

In the name of construction of railways, there is a continuous immigration of Indian labourers.

"The Government of India has been conspiring relentlessly to construct mega dams over our precious rivers with the help of external funding agencies like the Asian Development Bank to generate power not for the benefit of our people but to extract maximum profit.

"Tipaimukh as well as the four new dams for which a memorandum of understanding was signed between Manipur Government and NEEPCO in August this year would not bring any meaningful development to our people except for opening a big avenue for foreign companies to earn huge profits", read the statement.

The pervasive wave of capitalism, emboldened by imperial India's newly adopted soft border policy has been transformed into an insatiable monster for plundering all the natural resources of Manipur.

India in collaboration with many multi-national companies and agencies has been over exploiting all the hydro-carbon and hydel resources of Manipur since the past decade under its neo-liberal economic policy.

Counter revolutionary policies are inherent in all modes of developmentalism as espoused and followed by India in WESEA.

India has been continuously bargaining with the neighbouring countries with its eyes set on suppressing the legitimate liberation movements.

Manipur's present predicament, its genesis and all the catalysts demand dissection and introspection.

Overlooking this fundamental question would be self defeating even though this question is anathema to the handful of parasites who are thriving on the colonial rule.

It is this handful of parasites who have been tirelessly scheming to de-politicise Manipur-India conflict thereby projecting the armed revolutionary movement as something bereft of political goals or commitment.

This group of people who have been enjoying positions of power and deriving material benefits through treachery or sycophancy has a burning but concealed desire to see the downfall of the legitimate liberation movement.

This is understandable for their vested interests, wealth accumulated through dubious means, their exploitative operations, seats of power and corrupted administration would find no place in the new, independent Manipur, Chaoren continued.

Comment