The proscribed National Revolutionary Front Manipur (NRFM) has justified its call for a 24-hour Manipur bandh tomorrow, September 21, citing the signing of the Manipur Merger Agreement by Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh on the same date in 1949.
In a statement, the outfit said the bandh is intended to protest what it describes as the forced and constitutionally invalid merger of Manipur with India. The NRFM alleged that Maharaja Bodhchandra signed the agreement under coercion and without the approval of Manipur’s elected Legislative Assembly.
The outfit said Manipur already had its own constitutional framework under the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947, and an elected representative institution functioning in 1948. It therefore questioned the legitimacy of transferring the administration of Manipur to the Dominion Government under the agreement, which took effect on October 15, 1949.
Referring to the National Convention on the Manipur Merger Issue held in Imphal in October 1993, the NRFM said the convention had also questioned the legality and constitutional validity of the 1949 agreement.
The outfit said the September 21 bandh is aimed at keeping alive what it considers the unresolved political and legal questions surrounding the merger, and urged people to observe the shutdown in opposition to the agreement.