IT News
Imphal, Oct. 8:
Aheiba Angom, the Chairman of the Interim Council of the proscribed group People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak, PREPAK while greeting the people of Kangleipak on occasion of the party’s 44th Foundation Day lays some points justifying the war for freedom of Kangleipak.
The PREPAK leader said that survival of today’s Kangleipak in a moribund state is one of the big changes brought about by the forcible merger of the land in 1949 by dissolving the then National Legislature formed by elected representatives through a popular vote. Hindustan (India) had violated provisions of the Indian Independence Act, 1947(IIA), Manipur Constitution Act, 1947 (MCA), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties – 1969 ( Treaty on Treaties ), UN Charter and Customary International Law to forcibly annex Kangleipak. However, the fact that like the rest of the international community, the people of this region wish to live a life in freedom is clearly proven by the ongoing movement for liberation. No one can ever keep this movement suppressed because freedom is inextricable from humankind. This fact had been pointed out by a number of renowned persons since centuries and will ever remain as the universal truth.
The statement further said that , sense of materialistic comfort is spreading widely as if it is more important than the one thing that remains unchanged among all the changes, which is freedom of human beings. The same influence is being faced by the people of Kangleipak as well. A large number of people, by forming groups and gangs, are trying to gain materialistic comfort, as if it is the last thing in life, without fear or hesitancy for any consequences.
Despite all that, the desire for indulging in the stream of freedom remains intact. Achieving this objective lies in the united strength and dedication of the people. In order to achieve this, it is absolutely necessary to know the land thoroughly from all aspects. It is an accepted fact to all historians that big changes came about in the history of Kangleipak after the unsuccessful Cultural Revolution of King Pamheiba. The ugliest period in the history of rulers of Kangleipak is the habit of some of them depending on outsiders’ help and mercy to rule. This has become clearer after India had annexed Kangleipak. The strongest weapon that makes it appear to be freedom by fooling the people of this land is the Election. The festival of money and intoxicant substances keeps the people of this land in stupor for every 5 years. In order to achieve power, though for a short time, rich people pretending to be leaders take Kangleipak in such a way that no rebuilding can be done whatsoever later on. Drug abuse can be cured by treatment but there is no cure for those who have been baptized in electoral politics just to get borrowed power.
Apart from using money power and intoxicants to get victory in the election, safe haven is created for the outsiders thus spoiling the land. This is an example of surrendering Kangleipak to the outsiders just to win the elections. When outsiders overwhelm the land, how long the liberation movement could continue remains as a big question. One of the top priorities to be addressed by the people is to strengthen the hill-valley relation that seems to have worsened even more than the erstwhile British period. Nevertheless, the election has caused the hill-valley tie to get worse. Trying to get votes of the valley by criticizing the hill movement leaders while the so-called leaders of the hills lambasting the valley to win the election is something that we have been witnessing for a long time. As a result, such a situation is being created wherein the growing youths of both valley and hills face trust deficit between one another and fold up sleeves to fight. This is a big outcome caused by the Indian election.
Today, many of those who used to gamble their lives for service to the people have allowed themselves to fall into the trap of election. It is not an easy task to bring those who had fallen in the trap of election back to the right path. Yet it remains as an essential task to be done because Kangleipak won’t meet its end in anything else but in the election. Besides, those so-called leaders who had fought elections and held power since 1972 lacked ideas on how to maintain and protect their own land. They had no vision, nor target. Even if they had, they could not translate it into action. It’s because there is no space for such action in the backbone of administration—Constitution and other policies. Thus they always travel in an aimless journey. People, without caring whether right or wrong, also get carried away by them. Saving the people from the election which is undertaking a goalless journey using time and energy is an essential task.
Concerted efforts being made by the so-called leaders to keep the guise of a government formed by representatives elected freely by people are seen in the society. They are trying to create a hopeless society by throwing money and making the youths zonked with narcotics in the election. Electoral poison has been spewed even in religious and traditional activities. All people have been injected with electoral poison and entrapped so as not to be able to escape from such a society.
All talks of freedom, coexistence, thoughts of united struggle and sacrifice have been thrown away far and issues of candidates, election, money, narcotics, etc have become the most important talks of the exploited people.
If a State exists, there ought to be some concrete policies for development in that State. In order to enable the people to live properly, die in peace and to have assured life for future generations, it is necessary for a free nation to have an appropriate policy on soil conservation so as to get good yield. However, there is no answer when asked what significant achievement had been made in the State since 1949. Power, water, roads and bridges, government appointments, monthly salaries, etc are not significant achievements. These are essential matters administration must provide for. The so-called significant developments in the State may be cited as construction of brick farms, stone crushing factories and farm houses of the affluent people in the fields that produce paddy, where orgies are held regularly.
Land is equally essential in building a Nation and taking up developmental works. But there is no concrete policy for use of the exceptionally fertile land. Leader of the masses, Hijam Irabot launched an intense movement for ushering in change in land use but it was not successful. All cultivable land of Kangleipak lies in the hands of the Ministers, MLAs, top officials of government, illegal traders and smugglers. Most farmers do not have their own land to cultivate; they depend on other’s land for agriculture. Real owners have constructed infra structure in the fertile fields in the name of development in such a manner that no production can be made ever again from the fields. Despite legislation having been passed, such constructions cannot be stopped. Most of the paddy field owners are the ones who can influence the law makers and the legislations. There is not enough power to use the hill land. The Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960 and Article 371C of Constitution of India stand as a big fence between the hills and the valley. This creates a hurdle in building unity and strength between the hills and the valley. Hills think differently and valley thinks differently. Thus factional mindset comes to the fore and disables inclusive growth and building united efforts to face any challenge.
Economy of the State has worsened as the pristine environment has been constantly spoiled in the name of development and improvement of economy. This has caused loss of the unique identity of the indigenous communities raising the question how long the Kanglei people would be able to survive preserving their own identity. It’s not possible for a State to advance without development. However, what we must carefully look at is the hidden aggression by Hidustan (India) into our political, social and economic health. Kangleipak is basically an agrarian land. Economy of the land is based on agricultural products. Looking at the history of the economy of this land, since the early days till the period of independence, the agricultural products of Kangleipak used to be not only sufficient for its people but also used to be exported to the neighboring countries. But since the Loktak Project was commissioned in 1983, the Ithai Barrage water had submerged 83,450 hectares of paddy fields compelling the people of Kangleipak to depend on others for food. This has not only severely affected economy of our motherland but also given adverse impact on the social and political conditions leaving unity and integrity of the State in a chaotic situation. The Loktak Project is nothing but only loss for Kangleipak. The revenue collected from the sale of electricity generated by the Project before 2014 was just Rs 21 crore annually whereas the amount of income that could be collected from the agricultural produce of the vast land that had been submerged by the Project is nearly Rs 100 crore. The situation, according to the proverb, is an act of “penny wise, pound foolish.” Now it is very clear that the one and only objective of Hindustan to set up Loktak Project was to destroy the selfsustaining economy of Kangleipak and turn it into a captive market for good. The question that arises here is how the so-called leaders—elected representatives of the State granted permission for taking up the Project without properly discussing the consequences in advance.
To the farmers, exchanging their fields with electricity is not justifiable. That step has ruined the economy of the farmers and the environment. The only purpose of the Project was to pluck off the stomach of the people and turn them into beggars while strengthening the colonial rule. Unable to bear any longer the pains in terms of economy and environment caused by the artificial inundation resulting from the Ithai Barrage, the people of the affected areas have been demanding for a long time in a democratic manner to decommission the Project. But Hindustan has been suppressing the people’s legitimate demand. Unless and until the people take the issue ahead at the earliest, people’s economic and ethnic identity will be lost.
The most precious object of the people is to keep the erstwhile sense of patriotism intact. People used to survive only on the products available on the soil of the land. Once people used to keep their eyes on the fields as they lived on the crops grown in the fields, but now since all the means to survive had been wiped out, attention has been drawn toward the commodities being brought in on the highways. Arrival of the train and development of the highways is not at all for the benefit of the people. It is just to create facility for draining out the products available underground, over ground and forests in the State to Hindustan. All the development works being taken up are meant for their own benefits.
The most important factors necessary in making a free nation are people and land. When people exist, land must exist too. Without land, people cannot exist. Yet when there are people, land may naturally exist in due course. Israel is the right example. Without knowing my own and others’ land, just learning by rote a thick book on the theories that had brought big changes in the world will not achieve the goal. The number of Indiginous population, who should be spearheading and making bigger sacrifices in every major issue, is drastically declining. No step is taken to curb the fall in population, which is the fountain head of all strength. This has made the community a sapped community today.
No inquiry is made as to how the people of this land are settling and how much change has been brought in. After occupation by Hindustan, the family planning policy that was taken up has become the grave for the society. Creating factional history and division of ethnic groups that disables building united strength has become a trend among the Kanglei races today. It has been long since community based histories have been developed midway and indulging in factional and communal politics. This makes way for a kind of political system that cannot integrate the land. Such politics, aimless election and accompanying issue of drug gangs could not rear their ugly heads during the period between 1980 and 2000 when the sounds of gunfire of the war for liberation were heard quite often.
As there is no guarantee that the ongoing struggle for liberation is going to end today or tomorrow, it has become essential to take up various activities to save the society, which is almost on the brink of hopelessness, to bring about changes while engaging in the struggle for liberation side by side. Among such activities, promoting a number of people who know very well about Kangleipak is one. It is essential to bring out many persons who know thoroughly about the history, geography, social and sentiments and strength of the general people and also about the different communities. This is not an easy task. This is a task of creating a generation of people with great potential. Most of the youths of the State are unable to know Kangleipak. This is one reason why the movement for liberation cannot be strong. Thus it’s time special efforts were made to bring out Social Scientists just as much attention is being paid to Science, Sports and Culture. This is not something Hindustanis would do for us, only the Kangleichas should do it for ourselves. Search has been going on for answer to the question as to whether there is a map to fully use the right to self determination of Kangleipak as handed down through the history with the help of the international laws. A universal standard for all mankind in the world has been introduced in the 20th century. This right that used to be exercised only in the small countries in Europe before the 20th century got expanded amidst the World War I and World War II. As an outcome of the World War II, the right to self determination demanded by India since 1918 was given assent to and granted by the British after 29 years. It was not discussed on the platform of the UN. With a lot of efforts by Soviet Union and China, it was resolved in 1960 that the UN and its member nations would respect the right to self determination. Even India ratified the resolution. However since the Western countries were primarily concerned with the salt water decolonization, they did not pay attention to the countries that did not come under the colonization of the West. The West still accepts the UN resolution.
PREPAK expresses heartfelt sorrow over the death of Kangleichas, especially those who worked in the forefront—COVID warriors, particularly doctors, nurses, health workers and front-liners due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has engulfed the entire world. In fact, the deaths due to COVID-19 resulted from lack of health care facilities and failure to take timely steps to save the people from the pandemic. The Government should be responsible for all these.
Lastly, revolutionary salute to every single comrade of the Party, who would be taking part in the struggle for liberation to shape the destiny of motherland but are undergoing pains in the enemy’s jail as prisoners and those leaders who took major role in the long struggle and paved way for the revolution to further carry on but have retired due to unavoidable health ground or age factor.
