“The venomous bill should not be discussed on the floor of the Manipur Legislative Assembly without prior consultations with all the stakeholders,” said IPSA vice president Athouba Khuraijam.
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Sharply opposing the contentious Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Councils Bill, 2021, the International Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA) has termed the bill as “communal and ethnocentric” having “divisive” intent.
“The venomous bill should not be discussed on the floor of the Manipur Legislative Assembly without prior consultations with all the stakeholders,” said IPSA vice president Athouba Khuraijam on Saturday during a media briefing at its office in Imphal.
Athouba said that the contents of the bill are conspicuously similar to the contentious Naga Territorial Council, Kuki Territorial Councils demanded by the Kuki armed groups, and other provisions of the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Questioning the manner in which the bill was drafted, he asserted that it lacked transparency. He also maintained that the timing was also suspicious and said that it was done to destabilize the communal harmony that has been built up over the years.
Athouba also accused the leaders of the Hill Area Committee of being divisive and that the bill was conjured to divide the state.
“If the HAC leaders really think that the bill is in the larger interest of the people of the state,” he said, “then it should be brought to the public domain for in-depth discussion and make it inclusive before tabling in the assembly”.
Responsibility should not be fixed to the innocent people of the hills, he said. Rather it is the leaders of the hill people who in their names are playing a dangerous game. The future generations will teach them a lesson, he added.
IPSA will strongly stand against such divisive design and every right-thinking person who wants to develop unitedly and coexist peacefully should oppose the bill, he asserted.
Athouba also urged the legislators of the state to take the matter cautiously.
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