IT News
Imphal, April 24
Armed rebel group Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) is observing its 26th Raising Day on April 25. In connection with the Raising Day, Chairman of the proscribed group N. Oken greets the people of all sections of WESEA region particularly to the revolutionary groups of the region, CSO, Public intellectuals and media. The Chairman also appreciated to health workers who had been fighting the invasion of COVID-19 by risking their life.
In his message in connection with the raising day the Chairman of the KYKL critically examine two burning issues that Kangleipak is presently facing. The issue about Manipur King’s decision to contest the election of Rajya Shaba and that of the invasion by COVID-19 in Manipur has been deliberated.
“We need to study the attitudes of our leaders as well as the people’s opinions on both historical occasions, which are heavily inconsistent with Kanglei national values. At the same time, it also calls for a philosophical and objective interpretation of the same. This will tell us know how much we are disintegrated. It is, therefore, time for us, the people, to think about what to do to protect ourselves and to reaffirm our historic or epochal task. While some dub him as a paper tiger, he is a figure respected by more people than the MLAs and the MPs. Even the chief minister of Manipur kneels down before giving him respect. But what is most astounding and outlandish is that even he wants to become an MP. It is more than obvious that even our leaders are not concerned about our traditional values. Some close to the King were of the opinion that our King could become an MP, but that he should not address the Chairman/Vice-Chairman as ‘Chairman Sir.’ Nothing could be more self-contradictory or illogical than this. In other words, we all, from the most important persons to the plain folks, have become an opportunist. It can be seen as a warning bell that alarms us that we are on the brink of extinction,” N. Oken said.
He further added that with the CVID-19 approach, all of our ugly aspects have been disclosed. Sir James Johnstone once said, “… certainly, the Manipuris have stable and industrious qualities…”. What he meant by his words was that our forefathers were calm and not trepidations in trying times and that they weren’t too happy when success came.
During the period of the COVID-19, all these national characters seem to have vanished. Irrational fear, senselessness and complete madness are being manifested. After hearing the news that a man has been infected, a stable community will not close village lanes without taking into account what may have an impact on society tomorrow. He also gave an account of an event that he had encountered in 1880. At that time, an epidemic called cholera that did not have a vaccine attacked Manipur; many were killed. The Darbar was closed down, too. When he investigated why the Darbar was closed down, he came to know that the nobles were busy cremating the dead bodies of his relatives and friends. He also wrote about how our people behaved during that time of the epidemic, “…there were no cases of sick being deserted and everyone appeared calm and collected.” Where did all those behavioral traits gone?
COVID-19 is a disease that cannot be spread from person to person when we stand 6 feet apart. Without thinking about this small fact, some protested not to open a quarantine center near their village, so absurd. This isn’t anywhere near our traditional values. Rather, it is a great sign that shows that the idea of social responsibility, once embodied in every Kangleicha, has been lost.
Both issues show that our culture is becoming less influential and that our identity is being diluted. As we know, our culture and our identity are historical products meaning that the loss of our culture and identity is nothing but a product of Indian colonialism forcing us to accept Indian culture. What we can see here is that what we are doing today will determine our future course of history. If we cannot correct what is going on now, our history will be in the dark. We’re like standing in our own tomb. The act of finding the main reason why our culture and identity are diluted is the first way to stop the same thing. One of the many causes of cultural dilution is our complete economic dependence on Delhi as a product of our ever crumbling economic base. Culture, identity and history of a human group develop anchoring on the economy they are living with.
Amilcar Cabral wrote, “‘Like history, or because it is history, culture has as its material base the level of the productive forces and the mode of production.’ As world history has shown, we can say that a society that is totally dependent on others can not follow the right course of history. Abject poverty and complete economic dependence on India is clearly seen in what is happening now. We no longer care about COVID-19, social or physical distancing and curfews. What is more vital to us is to make sure that we get the rice (Kg 5-10) free of charge from the government. We have no shame in fighting each other to get a free ration. Even the MLAs and ministers are fighting for this. We don’t care about self-respect in trying to get something free. We can see such social phenomena only when people are living in extreme poverty. This is the product of the incorrect policies we’ve had in the last seven decades. Before 90 years, we’re a rice exporter. But today we feed ourselves on imported rice.
There are some of us who said that no one comes to help the king when he faces financial difficulties. It’s more like saying that Iningthou (our King) can contest MP election if it’s to eliminate his poverty. Instead of thinking about saving national values, culture and identity, he was using his position to gain some monetary advantage. This is the way of thinking of a people living in critically dependent societies. In short, the root cause of our leaders’ desire to be assimilated into the culture of Mayang can be traced in our shattered economic base and critical dependence on the economy of Mayang. So our epochal or historical task is to build a self-sustaining Kanglei economy. If we have a strong economic base, we can protect our culture and identity — the dialectical relationship between the base and the superstructure. We will also be respected at that time. We can only make our people rich if we can make native national capitalism happen. In addition, it can bring back to us our lost national characters. I would ask the people of Manipur to analyze and criticize the ideas I have put forward here in order to make it more complete.
