Initiating legal suits against Kuki scholars reflects the bleak state of academic freedom in India, and charges against them are politically motivated to erase Kuki history, said the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM).
In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, the Kuki apex body highlighted its resentment over the FIRs filed against Kuki scholars and intellectuals and the statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament.
The memorandum stated that Kuki leaders, social activists, students’ organisations and scholars who wrote and spoke for the Kukis on different platforms were booked to gag and stifle any voices from the Kuki-Zo community.
“Such cases amount to another ploy of keeping the Kukis under subjugation. Things which are purely academic should be responded with the same approach and academic freedom, which plays a vital role in strengthening democratic society should be protected,” KIM said.
Claiming that several Kuki scholars, writers, leaders and statesmen are under constant threat and harassment, the Kuki apex body stated that the results of research works, academic engagement and exercise of freedom of speech are responded to with FIR and cases.
Manipur Police have booked two Kuki assistant professors of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and a retired Colonel for the book they had edited and authored on the Anglo-Kuki War 1917-19.
KIM demanded that cases and FIRs against writers, scholars, academicians, leaders and statesmen of the Kuki community, which are filed/registered on the basis of complaints by radical and secessionist Meiteis with malicious intentions be withdrawn immediately.
The memorandum added that Amit Shah’s statement was also a clear message to the whole country that he is patronising and promoting the cause of secessionists, at whose behest the Biren Singh-led State Government of Manipur, is acting. Kuki’s loyalty to the nation should not be taken for granted.
“The indisputable truth and the cause of the ethnic conflict in Manipur is the majority Meiteis’ attempt to grab the Kukis’ land and natural resources by flouting every norm and procedure. Echoing Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s lies and presumptions in the Parliament by Amit Shah is politically motivated and totally unjustified,” KIM said.
The Kuki body strongly condemned the prejudicial, senseless statement of Amit Shah, who openly showed his partiality towards Manipur’s Chief Minister, N Biren Singh, and his narratives while speaking on the issue in the Parliament recently by deliberately ignoring the crux of the current Manipur problem. The Union Home Minister’s insincerity to solve the problem and restore normalcy was implicitly reflected in the speech, it added.
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The Kuki Inpi Manipur also demanded the Union Home Minister to tender an undue apology to the Kukis and that his contempt speech should be expunged for falling prey to the deceptive and divisive agenda of N Biren Singh and stated the problem should be viewed beyond politics or party affiliation.
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