MANPAC warns of intense civil movement
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 17 2019: Taking serious note of a news report reportedly broadcast in News X that CAB 2016 would be reintroduced in the Parliament within the ongoing session, the Manipur People's Alliance against CAB (MANPAC) has warned the Government of India that there would be massive and sustained civil protest movements in case the Bill is introduced and passed without first consulting and obtaining consent of the people of Manipur and other North Eastern States.

Speaking to media persons this evening at their Kwakeithel office today, MANPAC convenor Yumnamcha Dilipkumar quoted a news report broadcast in News X that CAB 2016 would be reintroduced in the Parliament tomorrow or within the current session which began today.

MANPAC warns of intense civil movement

In case the Government of India passes the Bill without first consulting the people of Manipur and the State Government, mass civil movements which are 100 times fiercer than the protest movements waged against the same Bill in the beginning of the current year will literally put the entire North East region on fire, Dilipkumar said.

Saying that there is no change to MANPAC's position regarding CAB 2016, the convenor said that MANPAC would fight the Bill with all its strength together with the masses.

Even though BJP's manifesto for the 17th Lok Sabha election assured that linguistic, cultural and social identity of the North East people would be protected from CAB 2016, MANPAC has no faith in such assurance because CAB 2016 is not a legislation which is specific to the North East region but it encompasses the whole country, he asserted.

The promise to reintroduce CAB 2016 was one major factor which helped BJP win a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha election.

Even if the Bill does not harm other regions of the country, it would prove to be disastrous for the North East, Dilipkumar said.

As such, it is MANPAC's non-negotiable position that the Bill should not be implemented in Manipur under any circumstances, he asserted.

The same resolution of not allowing CAB in Manipur and the North East region was adopted repeatedly at several conferences and review meetings held by MANPAC together with different civil society organisations of other Northeastern States.

MANPAC would uphold the same resolution with all its strength, said the convenor.

After a brief lull, MANPAC would now launch an extensive awareness campaign on CAB 2016 and the modes of civil protest movements that may be launched in case CAB in reintroduced in Parliament would be determined in the course of the awareness campaign, he said.

North East Forum for Indigenous People (NEFIP) Ningthouja Lancha who was also present at the press meet remarked that BJP's victory in the Inner PC of Lok Sabha election in Manipur notwithstanding its open declaration to reintroduce the infamous Bill was a humiliating defeat for all the people of the State.

However, if the number of votes garnered by BJP is compared with the State's total voters, it is quite clear that vast majority of people oppose CAB 2016, Lancha said.

Although the Government of India assured that historical, social and cultural rights of North East people would be protected, they never mentioned about detection and deletion of foreigners from electoral rolls because CAB seeks to allow settlement of these foreigners in any part of the country as Indian citizens, Lancha pointed out.

He said that they have already communicated with CSOs of other North East States on CAB 2016 and all preparations have been made to launch a massive civil movement against the Bill under a common decision of all the North East States.