Spirit of freedom can't be suppressed: PREPAK-II
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, October 09 2022:

continued from previous issue

The interim council chairman further said that there is no land use policy in Kangleipak and no land reform is also done.

For the objective of sufficiency in food, all the efforts cannot be limited to valley constituting only 8 percent.

Instead, a complete land reform should be executed first after classifying areas of land for use both in hills and valley.

But the divide and rule policy adopted by India for creating discord and disunity between hill and valley has made it unsuccessful till date, Aheiba Angom observed.

The major activity of the Indian government at present is to continue and prolong its suppressive regime and to permanently consolidate it through several strategic ways.

In this direction, in spite of people's resistance, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enforced in 2019 by extending the toothless Inner Line Permit (ILP) only to transform the Kanglei people into Hindustani forever.

By trying to erase forever Kangleipak and Kanglei people, India has been persistently attempting to present them as Hindustan (India) and Hindustani (Indian).

Efforts are being made to wipe off the ancestral prints of the Kanglei people by replacing with Hindustani elements including language, faith, attire, culture, customs, convention, ritual practices.

In addition to such acts, attempts are being made to manipulate the history of independent Kangleipak and link it with the history of Hindustan.

India has been trying to falsely show Kanglei people's battles from time to time against the colonial British such as Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891, Khongjai Lal, Zeliangrong Movement under the leadership of Haipou Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu as India's war or movement against the British.

Within this strategy, portraits of three brave women patriots of WESEA region namely Rani Gaidinliu of Kangleipak, Lalnu Ropuiliani of Mizoram and Phan Nonglait of Meghalaya, who firmly stood against the colonial British, were erected on the wall of Red Fort in Delhi on August 15 in the course of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebration, in commemoration of 75th year of India's independence.

This was done to present them as freedom fighters of India and such event was directed towards achieving objectives of assimilating the politics, culture, and ethnic identity of the people of WESEA region into mainland India and convert India into Hindu Rashtriya of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindu nationalists.

According to Aheiba Angom, Lalnu Ropuiliani fought against the British for Mizo or Lushai independence and there was no case of her taking part in India's freedom struggle.

Indian government's plan to develop memorials for Haipou Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu is motivated by the same spirit.

Further, the presentation of Rani Gaidinliu, Zeliangrong woman leader as tribal leader of Nagaland, is intended to blur the history of the land and drive a wedge of discord and hatred among the communities of the WESEA region, he added.

The interim council chairman further said India has been using the elections held in Kangleipak from time to time as a highly effective weapon of suppressing the independence movement of the Kanglei people.

The youth of the motherland having been snared into the temptations of election are being exploited as election warriors while elected leaders also could not do anything for the welfare of the people.

The election is made to serve as a way for drawing the people of Kangleipak closer to India or, if possible, to obliterate Kanglei people to fully Hindustani oriented people.

Projects initiated in the name of welfare post annexation of Kangleipak in 1949 are not truly meant for welfare in as much the same way as all the natural produce of the countries once under the British colonial regime were looted to England.

Schemes of the Indian government being put into action in the guise of welfare singularly lead to the conditions of flouting of the natural rights of the people of the land, suppression of the voice of democracy, endless instigation and interference, destabilization, forcing people into protest march, and militarization.

Such course of action is a disregard of the UN Sustainable Development Goal.

To become the master's pet, the puppet state government undertakes all projects brought in by government of India based on neo-liberal development without either sanction of the state assembly or the consent of the people.

For carrying out of their agenda, the Indian military serves as the protector.

The deployment of military in this land since India's first step in 1991 into liberalisation, privatization and globalization was in congruence with the spirit of capitalism.

The military is in persistent move to station permanently in Tamenglong, Ukhrul and other hill villages causing disruptions in tradition, folk life and independent living of the villagers.

Villagers have a lurking fear that their land might be snatched away.

Though the identity of a people of a land or state is usually viewed in the perspective of the social, the political and the economic affairs, the most vital is the aspect of economy.

If the people of a land cannot have a distinct character in the life of its economy, the community shall die out.

Accordingly, economy is the most crucial in the life of a community.

However, today besides economy, social and political control of Kangleipak has been in the hands of a few from outside.

All the politicians and bureaucrats of motherland have also been bonded to the few, with their free thinking de-capacitated.

As a result, policy decisions of economy are adopted to their advantage against the welfare of the people.

Since the annexation of Kangleipak by India, social, political and economic identity of motherland has been in a state of degeneration.

Consequently, the spirit of Kanglei nationalism is gradually sinking while on the contrary Indian nationalism is arrogantly on the rise.

It is in this context that the question arises as to how long the original Kanglei people can keep their identity, Aheiba Angom said in his message.

Though so branded as merger by India, it was annexation in the eye of Inter national Law.

After having been forced into the political framework of India, there has been a condition of worsening in all aspects of Kangleipak.

The issue raised from the human history of the world before today's generation is whether Kenglei people shall keep merely looking on or shall it be opposed to rein state the ancestral legacy of independent Kangleipak, the PREPAK leader said and maintained that the present generation should respond as indifference of no response or avoidance cannot be accepted.

Let it not be ever forgotten that Kanglei people are the descendants of those brave patriots inspired with indefatigable spirit who fought in Seven Years Devastation and Anglo-Manipuri War, 1891, Aheiba Angom said.

He maintained that sovereignty of Kangleipak is not yet lost under International Law but India simply obstructs and keeps it at abeyance.

The first obligation of the current generation is to make the obstruction known to the international community and remove it for resumption of Kangleipak's sovereignty with their support.

Concluded .

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