Imphal, Oct 25: The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) while reacting to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comments on Tuesday accused state chief minister N. Biren Singh for the ethnic violence in the northeastern state.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat while addressing the annual Vijayadashami celebrations at the Reshimbagh ground in Maharashtra’s Nagpur on Tuesday on the Manipur crisis, reportedly said some separatist forces were involved in the violence.
Both the groups Kuki and Meitei were living there peacefully for years but trouble cropped up in the border areas, he said.
Senior ITLF leader and spokesman Ginza Vualzong said that there were no clashes between the majority Meiteis and Kuki-Zo tribals in all the years before the BJP and Biren Singh government came to power.
Vualzong said that Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) recently removed only in Meitei-dominated districts and not in tribal areas and this is bewildering since government-designated terror groups operate in the Imphal valley while armed groups in the hills are under suspension of operation with the state and Center.
“Why was the government notification of 1966 regarding “reserved” and “protected” forests under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 suddenly implemented in 2023, that too without following procedures laid down by the Act, which includes consulting the stakeholders ?,” the ITLF leader asked.
He said that Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status suddenly revived in the state branding of Kuki-Zo tribals as “illegal immigrants” and blamed the tribals for the state’s drug menace.
