Six militant organizations from Northeast India have called for total shutdown on the 71st Republic Day to be celebrated on January 26.
The shutdown will remain effective from 6 am to 6 pm on the 71st Republic Day.
In a joint statement signed on Thursday by the chiefs of six militant outfits said they “resolve to call a total shutdown in the entire WESEA (Western South East Asia West East) region from 6 am to 6 pm of the 26th January, 2020 in order to stop or to hinder such ritual celebrations.”
The joint statement has been signed by Sainkupar Nongtraw, general secretary, Hynniutrep National Liberation Council (HNLC); N Oken, chairman, Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and Ksh. Laba Meitei, president, Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP).
The other signatories are H Uastwng Borok, president, National Liberation Front of Twipra (NLFT); Jiban Singh Koch, chairman, Kamatapur Liberation Organization (KLO) and JK Lijang, chairman, People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK).
Stating that the union government agencies and the state governments in Northeast are planning to celebrate the Republic Day in the region, the outfits said: “But this is purely anachronistic imposition in this part of the world, as the citizens of this region are not allowed to enjoy Republicanism in the true sense of the term.”
“The so-called republican constitution of India fails to actually entitle the peoples of this region to republican liberty,” the statement said.
The outfits alleged: “Indian rule in our region is theoretically republican, but in reality, deep-rooted oppression of the indigenes is prevalent, which is quite contradictory to republicanism.”
The outfits claimed: “As our relationships with India are unjust to the core, we, the peoples of the WESEA region, have become oppressed peoples. On the top of this, we are being subjugated under an alien rule, the fact of which condemns us to be categorized as the colonized.”
“Celebration of the Republic Day of the colonizer nation by the oppressed and colonized peoples is nothing less than willfully participating in their own oppression,” said the joint statement.
“To inculcate the minds of our people with true political consciousness, it is imperative to ban such imposed celebrations in our region,” it said.
The militant outfits appealed to the people of the region “to shun such celebrations orchestrated to legitimize foreign rule over us”.
“Religious activities and emergency services are exempted,” it added.