‘Peace talks and ceasefire’ meant to confuse oppressed masses: RPF

Newmai News Network
IMPHAL, February 24

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hief of Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), a powerful Manipur based underground organisation, Irengbam Chaoren has said the ‘peace-talks and ceasefire’ which are often termed as ‘dialogue’ between armed groups and the Indian Government have been used as an instrument to shield their hidden agenda to confuse the ‘oppressed masses’ in the name of peace and prosperity in the North East region.
This is the RPF’s president message issued to the media houses on the eve of the outfit’s 35th Foundation Day of RPF (Independence Demand Day). “Our history testifies Manipur was a self-reliant independent political entity which has today been enslaved by India’s colonialism. As the contradiction becomes more and more eminent, the fight against colonialism is a historical necessity for the Manipuris and has reached a ripening level today. The onus that lies with the people of Manipur is to be consolidated and enhanced further as the global opinion is wrapped in deliberate denial diplomacy towards India’s colonial ambitions in our region,” Irengbam Chaoren said. He then said the time is ripe to bring home a conclusive understanding that the tall claims of ushering in peace in the State of Manipur would nowhere result in securing the people’s complete freedom and independence. He added that the peace model that is being designed for the people by the Government of India is going to give neither independence nor freedom, it is a mere attempt to reduce our historical and political questions to something confined to governance and employment. Such an explication is nothing but to sustain India’s colonial apparatuses.
“The notorious Indian regime would not give us freedom and independence so easily. It is an unmasked truth that India’s design to deal with the people’s struggle has been following two policies. On the one hand, they honk of peace-talks and dialogue, and on the other hand, they also blatantly increase militarization of the region. This twin process is a complete story of India’s long-term strategy to subjugate and wipe out the revolutionary movement of Manipuris,” said the RPF leader, adding, “One of the glaring examples is the deceitful trapping of several armed organisations which were once on a collective path to liberate our region in the name of peace-talks. The irony is rampant as the revolutionaries are increasingly wooed and lured to peace-talks with evident consequences of betrayal and our own deviation from the core cause of liberation”.
He said there must be no confusion that stronger and sustained armed struggle can only ensure our independence for which we need to prepare ourselves for a massive armed movement with higher knowledge of people’s war strategies. “To free ourselves from the Indian colonial yoke, our oppressed masses must wake up to this revolutionary call and be prepared for decisive show down,” Chaoren stated.
Harping on the methods of the Indian Government in dealing the North East region, the RPF chief said the complexity of ‘our world’ under the colonial circumstances and conditions has increased over the years as new forms and strategies of occupation have been seeping in. “May it be economy, culture or technology, all have continuously affected our revolutionary realities. The impact is so extensive that it has jeopardized inter-community affinities and displaced our organicity. However, we continue to uphold that it is only the ongoing armed struggle that can stop this onslaught of colonial forces that has taken multiple shapes and structures. Therefore, in this time of deliberating a historical responsibility, all the oppressed as a class must play a revolutionary role by joining the movement,” Chaoren added.