“Now under the present dispensation, the pace of our national demolition has been accelerated blatantly. Ram Rajya has become fascist Rajya. Federalism has been pushed behind,” stated a joint release by the two proscribed outfits.
TFM Desk
The proscribed outfits, Alliance for Socialist Unity, Kangleipak and National Liberation Front of Twipra imposed a 12-hour shutdown in Manipur and Tripura on October 15, against the merger of the two states with Indian.
On October 15, 1949, Manipur and Twipra (Tripura) were compelled to merge with the fledgling Indian Union, a confederation forged out of a “mere geographical expression” by swallowing up forcefully most of around 600 culturally and ethnically heterogeneous princely states, stated a joint release by ASUK chairman N Oken and NLFT president H Uastwng Borok on Monday.
“Our leaders of those days were, on the one hand, duped by sweet slogans like Ahimsa, Satyagraha, Ram Rajya etc. and on the other hand, intimidated by the formidable Indian Army, to succumb to Machiavellianism-twisting and signed extremely unfair treaties to join India. Our own people were also equally gullible and naïve to accept the merger without any palpable grudge”.
The release stated that just after the merger, Indian machinations started to strangulate the people of the two states. Indian authorities let loose the juggernaut of demographic invasion, political marginalization, destruction of the economic base leading to critical dependence, cultural Indianization and identity annihilation, demolition of morality and values, and emasculation of national character, it added.
“Now under the present dispensation, the pace of our national demolition has been accelerated blatantly. Ram Rajya has become fascist Rajya. Federalism has been pushed behind. The slogan of ‘one nation, one language, one religion, one identity, one law, one party, one leader’ is at the top of the national agenda. For us, the rimland non-Indian minorities, national death is imminent,”
Stating that consequently, the liberation movement has become more relevant and imperative than ever, the two outfits maintained that their symbolic protest against the merger with strikes and shut-downs has become more necessary. We need to decolonize Indian historiography of painting the draconian merger in pleasant colors, it added.
The total shutdown will be enforced from 6 am to 6 pm and emergency and essential services have been exempted.