Imphal: Leaders of ten political parties in Manipur on Friday slammed both the central and the state government for choosing the “path of non-intervention” to the ethnic crisis in the state.
“In spite of the fact that the present crisis in Manipur is now more than five months, no meaningful peace talks with the concerned stakeholders is in sight,” the leaders said in a memorandum to Governor Anusuiya Uikey.
The Congress-led 10 like-minded parties’ bloc accused the BJP-led government at the centre and the state of trying to sideline the main reasons behind the crisis by taking shelter to the theory of conspiracy by outside militant organisation with intent to assault India.
The ten political parties are Congress, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Janata Dal(United), All India Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Shiv Sena state unit(UBT), Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Aam Aadmi Party.
“Finding solution by correctly analysing the causes behind the crisis requires no emphasis. It is high time for the Central and state authorities to engage in peace process to bring normalcy to the state,” the memorandum read.
The ten parties said that the failure of the state and central machineries to manage the serious crisis of law and order in the state has led to the formation of various civil societies to fill the gap of “missing governance” by resorting to various forms of agitations and pronouncements.
“Both the Central and State governments and vigilante groups, which are encouraged by them, have also created panic amongst the people and not allowing people to express their fundamental rights and voices are against the Constitution and democratic norms,” they said, adding that such restrictions should be lifted immediately.
“Any unlawful restriction by the government harms democracy envisaged under the Constitution of India,” the ten political parties said.
Earlier, the leaders of ten political parties along with their supporters took out a protest march from Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee office to Raj Bhavan to handover the memorandum to Uikey.
During the march a face-off between the Manipur police and supporters of the ten political parties took place after police tried to stop them at Kangla gate. The leaders were allowed to march forward to Raj Bhavan and handed over the memorandum to a Raj Bhavan official.
