RPF chief bats for sustained armed campaign-I
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 24 2014 : RPF President Irengbam Chaoren has categorically stated that only a sustained armed struggle can secure independence of Manipur.

"There must be no confusion that stronger and sustained armed struggle can only ensure our independence for which we need to prepare ourselves for a massive armed movement with higher knowledge of people's war strategies.

To free ourselves from the Indian colonial yoke, our oppressed masses must wake up to this revolutionary call and be prepared for decisive show down," read a statement issued by the RPF President on the occasion of the outfit's 35th foundation day (February 25), also observed as Independence Demand Day.

Conveying deepest respect to all the people of Manipur and saluting all the people who have laid down their lives in the course of the revolutionary movement, Chaoren said that history testifies Manipur was a self reliant independent political entity which has today been allegedly enslaved by India's colonialism.

As the contradiction becomes more and more imminent, the fight against colonialism is a historical necessity for the Manipuris and has reached a ripening level today.

The onus that lies with the people of Manipur is to be consolidated and enhanced further as the global opinion is wrapped in deliberate denial diplomacy towards India's colonial ambitions in the region.

In addition, the 'peace-talks and ceasefire' which are often termed as 'dialogue' between armed groups and the Indian Government have been used as an instrument to shield their hidden agenda to confuse the oppressed masses in the name of peace and prosperity in the region.

Time is ripe to bring home a conclusive understanding that the tall claims of ushering in peace in the State of Manipur would nowhere result in securing complete freedom and independence.

The peace model that is being designed for Manipur by the Government of India is going to give neither independence nor freedom, it is a mere attempt to reduce "our historical and political questions to something confined to governance and employment".

Such an explication is nothing but to sustain India's colonial apparatuses.

"The notorious Indian regime would not give us freedom and independence so easily", said the RPF chief.

It is an unmasked truth that India's design to deal with the people's struggle has been following two policies.

On the one hand, they honk of peace-talks and dialogue, and on the other, they have been blatantly increasing militarization of the region.

This twin process is a complete story of India's long term strategy to subjugate and wipe out the revolutionary movement of Manipuris.

One of the glaring examples is the deceitful trapping of several armed organisations which were once on a collective path to liberate 'our region' in the name of peace-talks.

"The irony is rampant as the revolutionaries are increasingly wooed and lured to peace-talks with evident consequences of betrayal which is further sharpened by our own deviation from the core cause of liberation" .

" There must be no confusion that stronger and sustained armed struggle can only ensure our independence for which we need to prepare ourselves for a massive armed movement with higher knowledge of people's war strategies.

To free ourselves from the Indian colonial yoke, our oppressed masses must wake up to this revolutionary call and be prepared for decisive show down", read the RPF President's statement.

The complexity of 'our lived world' under the colonial circumstances and conditions has increased over the years as new forms and strategies of occupation have been seeping in.

May it be economy, culture or technology, all have continuously affected 'our revolutionary realities'.

"The impact is so extensive that it has jeopardized inter-community affinities and displaced our organicity.

However, we continue to uphold that it is only the ongoing armed struggle that can stop this onslaught of colonial forces that has taken multiple shapes and structures.

Therefore, in this time of deliberating a historical responsibility, all the oppressed as a class must play a revolutionary role by joining the movement", Chaoren called out.

Armed struggle of the Manipuris is not about seeking 'secession' from India but it is about wholesome independence and liberation that is impossible under any circumstances of Indian rule.

While acknowledging the unending support rendered by the people of Manipur, the rebel leader stated that critical responses from the people which are being today lodged against the revolutionary movements in Manipur are considered integral to the success of the movement.

However, apprehension and distrust amongst people often become a reality and commonplace in the history of challenges confronted by revolutionaries of the world in all stages of history since there are implicit and explicit mechanisms to malign and subdue revolutionaries.

The experiences of Manipuri revolutionaries cannot be an exception in this regard.

"The stumbling-blocks to our national liberation journey are meticulously worked out by colonial India to weaken and wipe out the sources of collective consciousness that can ultimately propel a revolution", it alleged.

Colonialism harps on strict territorial administrative set up, and diminishing traditions of inter-community exchanges produces caged life world situations that ultimately are poised to blur collective knowledge about colonialism.

The lineage is well seen in what was seeded during British imperial governance as it devised the territoriality and polity of Manipuri people communally.

The impact was so extensive that it dismantled and cocooned the shared lineages of the colonized Manipuris.

Having well adapted into the imperial ethos and practices, the present Indian regime has unleashed its control over 'our people' .

The worrisome aspect of India's imperial spread is reflected in the engineering of a layer of people who constitute a class in itself that plays the role of an agency to sustain and enhance India's imperial institutions.

The result is rampant.

"We have to stand against our fast depleting unity.

The colonial arrangement is so notorious that it cast the realization of our unity as something that is impossible.

Temporality of such a cast is well understood by the Manipuris and this understanding never fails to rekindle our revolutionary foundations and ethos," Chaoren asserted.

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