5 Rebel bodies ban Republic Day; call 11 hours total shut down on Jan 26

Imphal, Jan 24: Five rebel groups of the region have called total shut-down of the entire region of North East India on January 26 banning the India’s Republic day celebration.
A joint statement signed by Sainkupar Nongtraw, Publicity Secretary, Hynniewtrep National liberation Council (HNLC), Ksh Laba Meitei President Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), N. Oken, Chairman, Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), Sengphui Borok, Organizing Secretary National Liberation Front Twipra (NLFT) and J K Lijang, Chairman People’s Democratic Council of Karbilongri (PDCK) stated that there will be total shut down in the entire North Eastern region for 11 hours, that is from 6 AM to 5 PM on January 26.
The joint statement said that various colonial government agencies are going to be pressurized into celebrating the day with pomp and ceremony in many cities and towns of WESEA region.
“Generally, only a few collaborators join them willingly and wittingly, some people witness them unwittingly, many people come reluctantly and majority of them are lured to participate through incentives. The reasons for this ostentatious celebrations are not far to seek. It is purely a tool of historiographical colonialism and colonization of the mind. India’s objective is to remove the true historical memories of our people from their minds and to replace them with fabricated historical narratives endorsing ethnic and racial assimilation with heartland Indian Aryans”, the joint statement said.
It further said that the peoples of WESEA region have never opted for being subjects of India and they have not enjoyed republican administration  in true sense of the term. Along with academic colonialism, Indian historiography or, more appropriately, brazen Indian historical concoction aims to indoctrinate the peoples of WESEA with the false consciousness of being real Indians, and that being Indians is natural and predestined, against which to resist is a political perversion and also futile. This colonization of the mind brings about easy governmentality in the region and faster assimilation into Indian mainstream. It is no wonder that Indian republic day celebrations are more prominent and conspicuous in WESEA region than in mainland India.
The statement said that the armed struggle is to liberate the people from Indian occupation and colonization.
“To translate this into reality our first and foremost task is to liberate ourselves from Indian colonization of our minds. Psychological decolonization should precede physical decolonization. Without decolonization of the mind, it is impossible to achieve political decolonization. Decolonization of the mind includes all forms of decolonization, historiographical,  academic, psychological,   philosophical, linguistic and epistemological”, the statement said. It also stated that standing against secular rituals like the republic day celebrations is tantamount to taking a step, though small, towards decolonization of the mind.