NIPCO, NIMPAL re-visit Merger Agreement
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 01 2019: Manipur University retired Professor N Joykumar has urged the people of the State, particularly the younger generations to learn lessons from the past mistakes committed at the time of signing the Manipur Merger Agreement and avert further occurrence of such mistakes in the future.

He was speaking as a resource person at a one-day discussion programme on "Manipur Merger Agreement, 1949, Manipur and India" which was jointly organized by Nongchup Imphal Palem Ima Apunba Lup (NIMPAL) and National Identity Protection Council (NIPCO) at the community hall of Keishamthong Ahanthem Leikai today.

Contending that the presence of some black sheep and bad elements among the then Manipuris was one of the major factors for inking ther Manipur Merger Agreement, he said that Manipuri society has been reeling under all kinds of misery since then.

NIPCO, NIMPAL re-visit Merger Agreement

Womenfolk who have been always at the frontline in fighting for the cause of the Manipuri society must take pivotal role in restructuring the Manipuri society in a vibrant form, he added.

Reminding that Manipur enacted its own Constitution and established Manipur State Assembly even before the signing of the Manipur Merger Agreement, the retired Professor went on to decry that the then members of Manipur State Congress Party who are in the Opposition bench of the then Legislative Assembly had strongly advocated and exerted strong pressure with vested interests that Manipur would be prosperous if the kingdom is merged into the Dominion of India.

He also alleged that the then leaders of India strongly advocated merger of Manipur and Lushai Hills into the Dominion of India.

Manipur State Congress Party leaders were also driven by a notion that the Communist movement which was at its peak could be easily suppressed if Manipur is merged into the Indian Union, Joykumar observed.

If the present generation does not give up such tendency of prioritising personal interests, the society will continue to crumble, he said.

Indigenous Manipuris should now take serious note of the dilution of their identity with the rapid growth of illegal immigrants' population in the State, he added.

Citing various sources, Joykumar maintained that Maharaja Bodhchandra refused to sign the Manipur Merger Agreement and pleaded the Indian Union authorities to let him consult the people of Manipur first before signing the agreement.

However, some of the then Indian leaders who took central role in the signing of Manipur Merger Agreement told the Maharaja that India recognized only the king as the sole authority of Manipur and that it did not recognise Constitution of Manipur or the Manipur Legislative Assembly, Prof Joykumar said.

All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) president Bijoy Kakchingtabam alleged that India does not want the people of Manipur although it wants the geographical land of Manipur for the sake of making it a defensive frontier.

Manipur was kept as a Part C State for a prolonged period before it attained Statehood only in 1972.Soon after few years of attaining Statehood, AFSPA was imposed in the State on the pretext of containing militancy problem.

There was no militancy problem at the initial stage of imposing AFSPA in the State.

This shows that India had prior plans to subjugate people of Manipur even before the merger of Manipur into Indian Union, he further alleged.

Stating that the people of the State are apprehensive about bringing an undesirable outcome out of the Naga Peace talk, Bijoy observed that CAB, 2016 may be coercively passed any time as the GoI had scrapped even Articles 370 and 35 A .

NIMPAL president Th Ibeyaima, NIPCO president Th Manihar and DM College of Arts Assistant Professor Arambam Noni too spoke at the gathering.