Six student bodies urge 50 Legislative members to push Centre for abrogation of SoO agreement, territorial integrity of Manipur

Six valley based student associations of Manipur have demanded the 50 MLAs of State to go to Delhi and raise their voice against the Kuki militants to request the Government of India to abrogate the suspension of operation (SoO) agreement with Kuki insurgent groups.
The students’ bodies also warned that if any Legislative member or minister failed to address the issue, the people of Manipur would take a decision to throw them out of Manipur.

The students, bodies also asked the 50 MLAs to warn the Centre that they would resign and join hands with people if the Government of India did not protect the State's territorial integrity and abrogate the SoO agreement.

The six students’ bodies in Manipur including All Manipur Students Union, Manipuri Students Federation, Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur, Kangleipak Students Association, Students Union of Kangleipak and Apunba Ireibakki Maheiroi Singpang Lup issued a press release in response to media reports surfacing in national media which alleged that the United kuki Liberation Front(UKLF)had backed the BJP candidates in 2017 election.

Appealing to the 50 MLAs to work unitedly by forgetting their past differences, the students’ bodies also stated that the people might not hesitate to teach them a befitting lesson If they continued to think that their personal agenda is more important than Manipur's collective goal. They demanded the Central BJP leadership to clarify its stand on the issue of insurgent groups’ support to BJP, otherwise the people would boycott and root out the BJP party from the soil of Manipur.

On the issue of violence in the State, the students’ bodies claimed that the State government had launched eviction drives against encroachers from Reserved Forest area and also to stop poppy plantations to save the younger generation of the state. However, they alleged, a group of vested interest people had instigated violence against the government's move and now it has turned into a major crisis.

“After finding out the involvement of Kuki militants who are under SoO, the state government had decided to end the tripartite agreement from its side on March 10, 2023. Angered by the state government's decision, the SoO militants instigated the common people and used their frontal organizations to push the state into chaos,” the students’ bodies alleged.

The organizations also alleged that as part of the Kukis’ larger plan to target the Meetei community, they organized a Tribal Solidarity Rally on May 3 where armed Kuki militants took part and attacked Meetei settlements in the Kangvai area by burning down the houses and killing common people.

“Till today, Kuki militants are continuing their attacks on Meetei villages, killing innocent civilians. Unfortunately , the government has failed to control the situation. What surprised many is that despite the deployment of 40,000 additional troops in Manipur, the government could not stop the Kuki militants from attacking the innocent Meetei villagers,” the Organizations alleged. Despite many deaths and the violence continuing for over a month, the students’ bodies questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and mentioned that the people felt the Centre simply did not care about the state.

The students’ bodies further stated that 10 Kuki MLAs have openly supported the Kuki militants' demand for a separate administration or Kukiland, threatening the territorial integrity of Manipur, while claiming that the government could not initiate any action against the ten MLAs, of which some of them are the relatives of the leaders of SoO Kuki militants. Alleging that the ten Kuki MLAs were financed and backed by Kuki militants during the election to further their demands, the students bodies have raised questions as to why action has not been initiated against the MLAs even after the demand of militants has come out in the open.

“What made the people unhappy is that these Kuki militants are openly violating the ground rules of SoO agreement and the government has not done anything,” the press release stated.

“Amidst all these, the open support given by some para-military forces to Kuki militants led to the suspicion on the role of the Government of India. At a time when the people are questioning the silence of the centre in aftermath of the killing of civilians by Kuki militants, the UKLF claims that they had backed the BJP candidates in 2017 election has further strengthened the fear and suspicion among the common people against the government.”

The students’ bodies said the people are suspecting that the Centre is not taking any action against the Kuki militants because of the help these militants provided to BJP during elections the release, and pointed out the possibility that the Kuki militants supported the BJP during the election after getting assurance that their demand of separate administration could be considered.

If this is true, the students’ organizations added, then the government of India is playing divide and rule in Manipur. It is time for the people to fight against the Government of India’s divide and rule policy, stated the press statement.