IMPHAL, January 19: Manipur will be celebrating its 41st statehood day on January 21. “But unfortunately, we don’t have a ‘statehood square’, or a ‘statehood pillar’ and, no statehood in its essence.”
This was said by former MLA O Joy Singh, who is also an adviser of the Manipur People Party (MPP), during an exclusive interview at the party’s office today afternoon near Mapal Kangjeibung.
The former Opposotion leader further continued that besides some instances like the ‘7 years of devastation,’ Manipur was a sovereign national before the Anglo-Manipuri War in 1891, after which it lost the battle against the British and leading the former to be under the rule of the later.
However, when the British left India, Manipur once again regain its sovereign status, he said.
“When independent India formed an act called the Indian Independence Act in 1947 which allows any of the princely states which were under the British rule to regain its sovereign status or join Pakistan or join India,” he continued “Manipur became a part of India in 1949 with the then Home Minister of India granting the status of a Part-C state” He further added that Manipur remained as a Union territory for 23 years and later on June 21, 1972 it was granted statehood. Manipur becoming part of India is still a controversial issue with some groups claiming it as ‘annexation’ while some others groups claiming it as ‘merger,’ he said.
“Unfortunately Manipur cannot be called as a fully fledged state with the leaders of this state failing to fulfill the wishes of the people of the state without the consent of their ‘bosses’ at Delhi. The political culture which restricts everything without the consent of the leaders at Delhi has turned the meaning of statehood of Manipur to something else,” the former minister charged.
O Joy further questioned why the state leaders keep going to Delhi to seeking permission from their Delhi bosses that they want to arrest Livingstone Anal instead of arresting him directly. “Is this a sign of statehood?” he asked.
Saying that Kashab was awarded death penalty according to the law of India he said that the Government of India provides no exemption for NSCN-IM and therefore, Livingstone Anal who is a criminal, must be arrested and awarded with his due punishment.
“Manipur is going to complete 41 years as a ‘state’ but it is yet to use its authority as well as power completely. And this is the main reason why political exploitation is being carried out in the state with economic imbalance and also there are larger communities trying to shrink the smaller communities,” he said.