The umbrella organisation of proscribed outfits urged the public to show unity by ceasing work, staying at home and boycotting the day.
TFM Desk
CorCom, an umbrella organisation of groups of proscribed outfits from Manipur, on Thursday announced an 18-hour total shutdown from midnight to 6.00 pm of January 26, the Republic Day of India. It urged the public to show unity by ceasing work, staying at home and boycotting the day. However, emergency services, health related activities and cultural activities will be exempted, said a release by the publicity committee of CorCom.
The release said that there is apprehension that Manipur might be broken into pieces since the Article 3 of the Constitution of India permits changing the boundary of any state or union territory. It has become pertinent for the people to reflect in view of the upcoming Republic Day, it added.
CorCom also cautioned that if Manipur continues to be part of India then it might be “wiped off” the face of Earth because of the design of the Indian constitution.
It further said even though the constitution provides some measures to protect the minority communities like Schedule Tribes/Castes, ILP, Sixth Schedule, etc, the constitution can be amended by future governments to suit their purposes. Since democracy is a number game, the voice of the minority representatives will be suppressed to favour those who speak Hindi language as desired by the Indian leaders, it added.
It cited the abrogation of the Special Status of Jammu & Kashmir, which was negotiated by King Hari Singh while signing the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947 as an example. The governments and people around the world could not do anything when it was bifurcated into two union territories, CorCom said and added that it is for the people of Kashmir to fight for their rights.
The proscribed umbrella organisation also argued that it is up to the people of Manipur to make efforts to escape from the “annexation” of Manipur through the signing of Instrument of Accession and the Merger Agreement by King Bodhachandra. “No people from other countries are going to help us,” it added.
CorCom further said that since the Constitution of India is not static, it would only lead to the downfall if the people remain content with some safeguards provided by the Constitution. Even in places of WESEA where provisions like ILP are already there is seeing rising number of non-indigenous people, it added.
Contending that if Manipur had remained an independent nation, development would still be there, CorCom said that since Manipur is a part of India at the moment, it is natural that the Indian government is developing the state. In the next 50-100 years Manipur and the whole of WESEA might be amongst the most developed. But it is clear that at that point of time, instead of the indigenous people, only Hindi speaking people will remain, it added.
CorCom further argued that regaining the lost independence which had been there for thousands of years, is the only way left for the people to safeguard itself from getting wiped out from the world.