A conglomerate of Meitei organisations on Wednesday announced a 48-hour general strike from midnight in protest against an army team’s alleged instruction to cover the word Manipur from a state transport bus ferrying journalists to the Shirui Lily Festival in Ukhrul on Tuesday.
Later in the evening, Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla announced a two-member inquiry committee to probe the incident.
The committee, comprising commissioner M. Ashok Kumar and secretary Th. Kirankumar Singh, will look into lapses, if any, and suggest measures to prevent recurrence of such a situation in future. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 15 days.
Besides calling the general strike, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (Cocomi) also demanded “an apology from the governor for allowing his administration to delete the name of the state from the state bus....”
“We also seek the immediate resignation of the responsible top officials who are under the governor’s administration, that is the security adviser, the DGP and the chief secretary of the state... because they are responsible for all the decisions that have undermined the state’s identity, its pride and respect...,” Cocomi spokesperson Khurajam Athouba said at a media meet.
Tuesday’s incident which saw security forces from the Mahar Regiment allegedly instructing the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) staffers, accompanying the journalists to the festival, to cover the words Manipur State Transport (MST) displayed on a state-owned bus has triggered both concern and condemnation.
The Meitei Alliance, another Meitei-based organisation, has also urged governor Bhalla to investigate the action of the Mahar Regiment which “forced” the removal of the word “Manipur’ from an MSRTC bus.
The incident also forced the BJP to issue a clarification on the incident.
The BJP’s northeast in-charge Sambit Patra had posted a video on X on the “avoidable misunderstanding” while reassuring that the state’s integrity was “non-negotiable”, a move seen to assuage the concerns of the Meitei people following Tuesday’s incident which took place at the Gwaltabi checkpoint in Imphal East, around 25km from Imphal city.
A video of the MST signage being covered with white paper went viral, sparking condemnation.
While congratulating the people of the state for hosting the Shirui Lily festival after two years, Patra said in the video that an “unfortunate incident” took place because of “avoidable misunderstanding” and then reiterated to asure the Meitei people at large “that as far as the integrity of Manipur is concerned, the Union home minister Amit Shah... has maintained (it) is something which is non-negotiable. It’s something which we (BJP) always stand for”.
Patra also ruled out any conspiracy angle in the incident while urging the people of the state to “have faith” in the BJP, which was ruling the state before President’s rule was imposed on February 13 because the state BJP could not find a consensus candidate to replace N. Biren Singh who had resigned four days earlier.
Referring to the “open threat” issued by KSO Delhi unit president and several armed Kuki-Zo village volunteers before the Shirui Lily festival, the Cocomi said these threats were “not being handled by this administration rather than they are submissive, they are surrendering to the threat of the terrorist groups and trying to undermine and compromise the state’s identity and this is not acceptable at any cost”.
Seeking the restoration of a popular government, the Cocomi also said that it considered the present President’s rule in the state “as nothing but an alien administration, an alien government arrangement”.
“Therefore, we demand immediate withdrawal of this President rule... we need the people of the state to govern and rule over the state because they understand the value, the significance, the importance of the name of the state, identity of the state...,” the Cocomi said.
