THOUBAL, Mar 1: Cautioning that allowing those political parties which cannot think beyond one single community/religion to take roots in the soil of Manipur would spell doom for the State, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi has called upon all the people to teach a befitting lesson to those political parties in the ensuing State Assembly election.
He was speaking at the flag hoisting ceremony of Congress candidate in Wangkhem AC Keisham Meghachandra held today at the latter’s residence at Yairipok Bishnunaha under the aegis of Wangkhem Block Congress Committee.
Taking a dig at BJP’s audio-visual poll propaganda, Ibobi remarked that there is not a single element of truth in the rival party’s propaganda.
It appears that BJP takes the people of Manipur for fools. People should not trust BJP but always be wary of the party.
The Prime Minister’s statement that the economic blockade would be lifted on March 13 if BJP is elected to power on March 11 only exposed that BJP has close nexus with NSCN-IM and the UNC, Ibobi asserted.
While BJP has been claiming that it would accomplish in 15 months what the Congress Government could not do in 15 years, nothing has been done on Imphal-Jiribam highway even though it was listed in the Prime Minister’s 100 days programme, charged Ibobi.
Again the Centre’s BJP Government was befooling the people of the country by saying that Rs 15 lakh would be deposited in the bank accounts of each citizen out of black money seized through demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes but not even one rupee has been deposited in bank accounts of the country’s poor, Ibobi stated.
“I feel shame for the utter lies uttered by none other than the Prime Minister”, continued the Chief Minister.
In total contradiction to the Congress party’s sustained efforts to make India a truly secular country, some parties are only concerned about a single community and they cannot think about the other communities settled in the country.
Out of 757 Assembly segments of five States which go to polls this year, BJP gave its ticket to only one Muslim candidate in Lilong AC. This is a clear testimony of BJP’s policy of suppressing minorities, claimed the Chief Minister.
On the other hand, Congress party has been always supporting minorities and this was evident when a Muslim was nominated to the State’s lone Rajya Sabha seat, Ibobi asserted.
Wangkhem AC is settled by different communities and there are around 7000 Muslim voters.
Stating that the Muslim voters have always been playing a decisive role in Wangkhem AC, the Chief Minister appealed to the Muslim voters to vote for K Meghachandra and give a crushing defeat to the BJP candidate.
As for the other candidates, they are non-entities, Ibobi stated.
Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam reiterated that the ensuing election is a very crucial one.
People are aware that there are many elements which are bent on disintegrating Manipur, Gaikhangam said.
He then appealed to all the people of Manipur to vote for Congress party if they are committed to a united Manipur.
The Congress Government has been working relentlessly to bring uniform development across the hills and valley of the State. Almost 90 per cent, if not 100 per cent, of the promises made by Congress party to the people of Manipur have been fulfilled, Gaikhangam claimed.
The allegation that no development programmes were implemented in hill districts is a blatant lie.
“I’m a hill man and I know all those development programmes implemented by the Congress Government in the hill districts. Will someone still say that nothing has been done in the hill districts despite seeing many new infrastructure which were unseen 15 years back?”, Gaikhangam asked.
There are overt as well as covert anti-Manipur forces. The overt forces are NSCN-IM and their cohorts. The covert force is BJP and these two forces have been working hand in gloves, he claimed.
In many Autonomous District Councils too, the combination of BJP and NPF has assumed power with NPF leading the alliance.
Congress party would like to file just three charge sheets against BJP. The first one is about the June 18 public uproar of 2001 when 18 people lost their lives. The second one is on the Framework Agreement signed between the Government of India and NSCN-IM of which the contents have not been divulged yet. The third one is about the ongoing indefinite economic blockade which is being enforced by NSCN-IM’s frontal organisation UNC in cahoots with BJP, the Deputy Chief Minister elaborated.
Kakching AC MLA Y Surchandra, Wangkhem Block Congress Committee president Md Mubarak and Yairipok Municipal Council Chairperson L Haripiyari were also present at the flag hoisting ceremony.
Speaking at Kwakta Public Ground for INC candidate M Prithiviraj in Moirang AC, the Chief Minister repeated that the BJP has a tacit understanding with the NSCN (IM).
Source: The Sangai Express
