The National Revolutionary Front Manipur (NRFM) has called for a 24-hour Manipur bandh on September 21, observing the anniversary of the signing of the 1949 Manipur Merger Agreement.
In a statement issued by its Information and Publicity Secretary, Sanajaoba Meitei, the outfit said the bandh was being called to oppose the merger agreement, which it alleged was signed under coercion by Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh and the representative of the Dominion of India on September 21, 1949.
The NRF claimed that the agreement transferred full and exclusive authority over the governance of Manipur to India from October 15, 1949, and questioned its constitutional and legal validity in the absence of the elected Manipur Legislative Assembly’s approval.
It pointed to the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947, the National Assembly and the elected Legislative Assembly constituted in 1948, arguing that Manipur had an existing constitutional and representative framework before the merger.
The statement also referred to the National Convention on the Manipur Merger Issue held in Imphal in October 1993, which, it said, adopted a resolution questioning the legality and constitutional validity of the September 21, 1949 agreement after examining the political and constitutional circumstances surrounding its execution.
The NRF appealed to the people of Manipur to observe the bandh in opposition to the Merger Agreement.