IMPHAL, Jan 20: Major underground groups of the region, including the umbrella Manipur People`s Liberation Front, MPLF of Manipur have called for a boycott of this year`s Republic Day.
A joint solidarity statement was issued by the Kamatapur Liberation Organization, KLO, the MPLF, Tripura People`s Democratic Front, TPDF and the United Liberation Front of Asom, ULFA in this connection.
In connection with the boycott call, a general strike has also been called in the region from 1 am to 6 pm on January 26.
Justifying the boycott call, the statement said India`s `Republic Day` celebrates the day India`s constitution was imposed on the peoples of the region so as to `legalise` their colonial occupation. Indian colonial occupation of the Region completes 58 years this 26 January, it said.
The statement reiterated the various groups` stance that the destiny of the region lies only in interdependent unity and coexistence with sovereign independence among the fraternal peoples of the region.
The `imposed` Indian constitution, it maintained, has undermined the basic unity of the region by fragmenting it on ethnic lines as part of the colonial policy of `divide and rule`.
Creation of `tribes`, `castes`, `OBCs`, etc. pitching them as contending opponents in the societies concerned for `benefits` from the Indian government have created almost antagonistic contradictions.
This has also degraded the value of individual life, it said and declared, the Indian constitution has never been and can never be our constitution.
At the same time, the statement expressed pain at the fact that the liberation forces in the region remain divided among those in `ceasefire` and `peace talk` process with India on one side, and those actively continuing armed struggle on the other.
It maintained that India`s two-pronged strategy is to suppress the armed struggles by massive military force on the one hand, and to destroy the revolutionary character and organisational capability of those under `ceasefire` and `peace talk process` by corrupting them with money and comfort. This is the `Indian solution` to the conflict situation in the region, it said.
Extending congratulations to the freedom fighters and struggling peoples of the region for their unrelenting resistance against offensive after offensive of the Indian security forces for the last several years, the statement said this has encouraged them to to call upon those fraternal organisations now in `ceasefire` and/or `peace talk` with India to return to the path of armed struggle.
`We firmly believe that only armed struggle and people`s resistance against Indian colonial occupation can forge the unity of our Region for a common future. At the same time we would reiterate our stand for a satisfactory political and peaceful resolution of the conflicts with India`, the statement said.
In the spirit of unity and common struggle, the solidarity statement called upon all the peoples of the region to boycott India`s Republic Day and also to prevent any such celebrations from being held in the region.
It also stated that in connection with the boycott a general strike will be observed on 26 January 2008 from 1 am to 6 pm throughout the region.
It further appealed to all the patriotic organizations of the region to endorse this solidarity statement and observe the boycott and general strike in their own capacity.
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