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KOCHI, Aug 11
India must be a defendant against the hegemony and homogeneous religious and cultural ideology even as the RSS is trying to implement Hindutva, said Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, Congress MP from Manipur here on Sunday.
"As a political community and a State, India was born in 1947, bringing together different States. We declared that we, the people of India, would form this secular, republic and democratic country. When Rahulji said India is a Union of States, he was acknowledging this. What do the RSS and the BJP do ? The RSS is now trying to implement what they imagined in 1925, that is Hindutva," Akoijam, a former Associate Professor at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University said. He was speaking 'Manipur Memoirs', organised by the Ernakulam District Congress Committee.
"Last time during the election, everyone was running for BJP tickets, and this time, the BJP tickets are running behind people, and people are running away from them," he said.
The Manipur MP also shared his experience of contesting the general election held this year and the attempts to prevent him from contesting. "They tried everything to defeat me. But they could not. I am not the one who won the election. The people of my State have won the election against divisive, sectarian, and polarising politics. People reject the kind of politics the BJP has," he added.
"PM has time to visit Wayanad, but not Manipur"
Criticising the Union Government for its silence on the Manipur issue, Akoijam said that the BJP Government is allowing the violence to continue in the State, and the majority-minority issues and the divisive ideology have resulted in innocent people across communities in the State suffering.
"I am thankful that the PM visited Kerala after the landslides, Odisha, where the train accident occurred, and even Ukraine. But he has not visited Manipur. The so-called double engine Sarkar is allowing this to happen in our State, not for a week or a month, but for more than 15 months now," he said, adding that Manipur is an excluded State.
"Manipur is not even a neighbouring State. It is a part of this country. They talk about Gujarat and other States, but not about Manipur. Because they know if they talk, the fingers will point towards them," he said.
Akoijam also thanked Kerala for its solidarity with Manipur. "I am thankful to the people of Kerala. Because you all came and showed us that we matter. Thank you for the solidarity and for reminding us that we are not invisible, and we are very much visible," he said with gratitude.
Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden and DCC president Muhammed Shiyas also spoke at the event.
The New Indian Express