Newmai News Network
Imphal | January 28
The Manipur State Council of CPI commenced its three-day relay hunger strike on Sunday pressing the Manipur government, among others, to bring an end to the ongoing crisis in the state.
The relay-hunger strike commenced at Irawat Park at Chalou under the Lamlai police station of Imphal East district with the participation of leaders of the party in Manipur.
The strike which will continue till January 30 will cover different parts of the valley, leaders of the party said.
While pressing to bring back peace and normalcy with a concrete solution to the more than eight month long crisis, the CPI demanded summoning of the session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly immediately.
Placards reading “Stop the violence immediately”, “Summon Assembly session now”, “Immediate resettlement of the displaced persons in their respective homes”, “No disintegration of Manipur”, “No separate administration in Manipur”, etc. were displayed at the protest site.
Talking to the reporters at the protest site, assistant secretary of CPI Manipur State Council, M Joykumar said that Manipur which was once a peaceful state has been turned into a killing field with the loss of over 200 lives in the protracted violent clashes that erupted on May 3 last year.
"Thousands of people become refugees in their own state after their houses were torched or vandalized. The displaced people staying in the relief camps have no lost hope of returning to their original homes as no effort was taken up on the part of the state and the Central governments to resolve the crisis,” he said.
While alleging that the BJP’s double-engine government did nothing to end the crisis and bring back peace and normalcy in the state, Joykumar alleged that instead of finding ways to resolve the crisis, the saffron party remains giving emphasis in the campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"The party in power, it appeared, has no concern for the welfare of the common people,” he said while asserting the protracted violent conflict not only affected the two communities in conflict but also other communities living together in the state.
The CPI leader also said that the main objective organizing the relay-hunger strike is to bring an end to the prevailing crisis in the state before the upcoming elections to the Lok Sabha and to convene a session of the state Assembly immediately and adopt a resolution to end an end to the crisis after a through deliberate by the house of the Assembly among others.
At the same time, he added that the CPI will never accept any form of settlement to the crisis which will hurt the interest of unity and integrity of Manipur.
“The governments at the Centre as well as in the state must never consider the separate administration demand raised by the 10 MLAs belonging to the Kuki community,” he also said.
He further demanded that NRC should be implemented in the state so that the illegal immigrants can be detected and deported.
He further said that the CPI is ready to go with the people for a more intense agitation if the government fails to implement their demands at the earliest.
