PREPAK (Pro) chief shares thoughts on Progressive Day

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, May 31: Saluting all the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives in the course of the liberation movement, PREPAK (Pro) Chairman L Paliba M has shared his views and thoughts on different issues including the ongoing liberation movement and the socio-political status of Kangleipak/Manipur.
The Chairman also greeted all the people of Kangleipak and fraternal revolutionary organisations on the 12th Progressive Day (June 1) of PREPAK (Progressive).
A statement issued by the Chairman alleged that the ongoing armed rebellion was sparked by the unjust annexation of Manipur by India.
India did not respect the 2000 year old independence of Manipur but it was downgraded to Part C status and the passport system was abrogated purposefully in a hasty way.    
The Assembly Demand Coordination Committee of 1960 expressed “The Assembly of 1948-49 was abolished illegally; the future of Manipur was uncertain as it was being kept under powerless political status; India had mistreated Manipur as compared to other States", the Chairman quoted.
Afterward, the so-called Merger Agreement of 1949 was declared illegal by the National Conventions of 1993 and 1996. The issue is no longer exclusive to the insurgents, as the people had mandated the causes of the insurgency, Paliba claimed.
Lack of political order and political maturity on the part of India are amply exposed by the fact that the President's Rule (PR) was imposed 132 times in various Indian States and Union Territories, covering 31,117 days. In Manipur, PR was imposed 10 times which lasted for 2,337 days.
In the first 22 years of the 72 years of India's occupation of Manipur, India propagated their political might ferociously in order to Indianize politically the new Indians - the Kangleichas, the PREPAK (Pro) Chairman alleged.
In the following 50 years of the so-called Statehood, there were six years of President's Rule, and until now, the State has been administratively haunted by the spectre of AFSPA for 42 years, read the statement.
In the 1948 white paper on Indian States, the emphasis was placed on special security arrangements because Manipur is an essential geo-strategic State. So, it was evident since the early stages that India had been intensely interested in expropriating Manipur under Central rule with the deployment of enormous security forces, it said.
“The Manipur State Assembly of 1949 never discussed accession to Indian Union, let alone the ratification. We must live no longer under this quasi-federal and asymmetric federal India”, Paliba asserted.
Today, the religious, economic, political, and security policies of the Indian Government have turned Kanglei society upside-down. A challenge to such invasive procedures requires more than one means, the Chairman continued. “Our observation is that there must be an ultimate goal including objectives and means for establishing the rational foundations in the existing situation. In order to combat the adverse parameters of the enemy's stratagem and to challenge the constantly changing global materialistic impact on our revolutionary society, PREPAK (Progressive) was formed to move the liberation struggle forward”, the Chairman claimed.
“People at many public conventions agreed with our cause and objective, and boldly denounced the alleged illegal merger of 1949. Such actions inspired us to pursue the struggle even more; however, it is regrettable that there has not been a powerful public movement to augment the general resolutions”, he continued.
Insurgency was ignited during the long period of Congress' Government. The once dominant Congress party, which was also synonymous with ‘India’, gradually became a spent force; likewise BJP may also become a cultural party.
“It seems there will be not a single political party to lead the ‘disintegrating’ India. So instead of charting our destiny inside India, we should strive to make our land self-sufficient”, the PREPAK (Pro) Chairman said.
Each revolutionary party draws a line between people's movement and party movement which leads to rigid conditioning and limits the collective or unified force.
The two events of Nupi Laan which shared a paramount chapter in world history were not armed struggle in the revolutionary sense. But the events had paralysed the then powerful colonial Government. A deep emotional appeal from mothers at Kangla Gate and the events of the June 18 Uprising have always inspired patriotic courage. The declaration of the so-called Merger Agreement as an 'Annexation 1949' in the National convention of 1993/1996 had influenced many to join the insurgency leaving their families behind, it said.
“Our objectives have been somewhat successfully ingrained in the public's mind. Still, we need to organise the people to trust our means, that is, the armed struggle”, the Chairman continued.
Regarding peace talks, he said, “We never started the war, but we are facing the war. We are proceeding along the 2000 plus years old historical path, so we should not be categorised as wayward or recalcitrant groups.
Instead of repeatedly seeking a ‘final solution’ through peace talk with insurgents, one must ask what is the reply of the Government of India to the alleged illegal annexation of Manipur. So, the Kangleichas and the State Government must have the boldness to grind the Centre for that big reply, Paliba said.
The continuity of the long historical process of Kangleipak was deviated in 1891 and 1949. The Delhi-worshippers need to realise and correct these deviations courageously, it said.
 It may have been possible to suppress  a revolutionary party but the inspiration which has been driving the independence movement can never be annihilated, it said.
Asserting that both the State Government and Central Government must deeply study the root-causes of insurgency before offering peace talk, the PREPAK (Pro) Chairman categorically stated that their party is not ready to accept it at this juncture.