By M.Devanand Sharma
Imphal (Manipur ) , Sept 25 : On the 42nd Raising day of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) Manipur has expressed appreciation and conveyed its gratitude to all the frontline warriors of COVID-19 namely; health care workers, police, media persons, transporters, NGOs, CSOs, local clubs, student bodies and volunteers who have been battling against the pandemic selflessly.
‘ I would like to pay deepest respect to all the martyrs who laid down their precious lives in the course of the revolutionary movement. At the same time, I would like to convey my solidarity to all the people who have been suffering untold misery on account of the coronavirus pandemic. My heartfelt sympathy goes to all the families who have lost their near and dear ones to the pandemic’, Irengbam Chaoren, President, Revolutionary People’s Front stated in a press statement .
“For the last 70 years India forcibly annexed Manipur and our people have been leading a miserable life in the face of myriad colonial repressive policies of the government of India. At this juncture a new virus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) invaded surfaced all of a sudden in March this year and multiplied the woes and suffering of our people,” the RPF said .
It is not only Manipur which has been attacked by COVID-19 but the entire humanity living in this planet while many people in the state have been killed and infected by the virus apart from completely derailing socio-economic life of the whole State. To tackle and bring the contagion under control is the first and foremost priority for all of us, Chaoren added.
Stating that not much is known about the virus while everyone is aware of the major factors responsible for widespread transmission of the virus in Manipur, Chaoren stated that it is of utmost importance for the government to take up appropriate and sufficient measures and at the same time, public should put complete trust in these measures and follow them strictly.
However, it is highly questionable whether the puppet Manipur government shall ever have the will and sagacity to draw up and enforce appropriate policies to contain the pandemic, he questioned.
The RPF President also called on the people to always keep in mind that the Government of India and its self-centric leaders would never ever sincerely work to control the pandemic effectively because all the actions of Indian political leaders are always driven by consideration for electoral gains.
It also expressed concerns that the common masses are incapacitated and reduced to mere vote banks.
As per a report published by the Association of Democratic Reforms, 265 out of the 301 MPs of BJP and 43 out of 51 Congress MPs are crorepatis. Maximum numbers of MPs of other political parties are also crorepatis. Of all the incumbent MPs, 44 percent are indicted in criminal cases, Chaoren said adding that it is hard to believe that the government of India which is predominated by such self-centric, super-rich people and criminals would ever pay full attention to tackling diseases like COVID-19 which would affect the poor masses in much larger scale and higher degree because they joined politics primarily to amass personnel wealth and abuse political power to serve their personal interests.
He further stated that in the midst of the critical situation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many issues and challenges which we must face at present.
“The Framework Agreement which is a direct attempt to polarize communities, the Suspension of Operation pact which makes our own people collaborators of the Indian military forces, the proposed delimitation based on erroneous census data, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which threatens demographic balance despite enforcing ILP, the diabolic policies of HINDIA to obliterate and destroy our language and identity, the imminent environmental degradation on account of exploitation of underground natural resources, the sinister ploy to render Manipur completely dependent on mainland India for all basic requirements in the name of promoting trade and commerce, the drug war aimed at demoralizing and negating productivity of youth, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act which gives freedom to the Indian military to oppress the masses, the repercussions of India’s military challenge to China etc are some issues which we must face while battling the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said .
However, if we are not careful enough in tackling these issues, the situation may turn out to be contradictory to what Chairman Mao said, “Cannons and bombs fired by enemies awakened the people of China to a new dawn of freedom”, the statement added .
If our conscience is not clear enough, some sections of our people may become more Indian than the Indians themselves and this would be a serious setback to the liberation movement which will determine the future of Manipur, Chaoren alerted.
