New Delhi: More than three MLAs, including two from the ruling BJP, were “beaten up”, “abused” and “compelled” to take an oath by radical armed Meitei group, Arambai Tenggol, at the meeting it convened Wednesday at the historic Kangla Fort in Imphal, one of the legislators who attended the gathering told ThePrint.
Another MLA, also part of the meeting, however, said although there was some disagreement, everyone signed the draft after agreeing to the terms. “We all signed with our consent,” he said.
As many as 37 MLAs of Manipur and the state’s 2 MPs — Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — had answered the group’s “summons” for the meeting, where they took an oath to “protect the integrity of the state”.
The legislators also pledged to fulfil demands made by the group, which included updating the base year of the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur to 1951, and abrogating the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with Kuki insurgents, within 15 days.
Speaking to ThePrint on condition of anonymity, the first MLA cited above said over three legislators “were beaten up when they refused to agree with the demands of the group”.
“We are too scared to say anything since dissent would mean the group would attack homes of MLAs and burn them down,” the MLA added. “MLAs who disagreed with them and refused to take the oath were beaten up, there were heated arguments, but, ultimately, they had to give in to their demand,” the MLA said. “The meeting was a politically motivated programme.”
The radical armed Meitei group, Arambai Tenggol, faces many allegations of violence, looting and arson attacks of churches amid the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur involving the Meiteis and the tribal Kukis.
Among the legislators who attended the meeting were Inner Manipur MP Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and Rajya Sabha member Leishemba Sanajaoba, all from the majority Meitei community. Congress leaders, including former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and state Congress chief Keisham Meghachandra Singh, were also present. The only Meitei legislator not in the meeting was Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.
After the meeting, Korounganba Khuman, the group’s chief, addressed a public gathering and said Arambai had called the legislators to make a point that ministers and MLAs are not above the people. He also said that “if the Centre does not listen, we will take the movement to the people to protect Manipur”.
‘Plan to prevent meeting collapsed’
A comprehensive security plan involving over 2,000 personnel from the CRPF, Assam Rifles, Indian Army and local police — equipped with crowd-control weapons and mine-protected vehicles, along with bunkers — was implemented at the four gates of Kangla Fort in the run-up to the meeting, with a view to preventing it.
However, according to sources, the plan soon collapsed as, despite the armed group not having any permission for such a gathering, it received approval from the authorities to proceed with the event at the last minute, leading to the withdrawal of the deployed forces.
According to a source in the security establishment, this event has further bolstered the popularity of the armed group. It is now being lauded by the people as one that resisted the forces, stood its ground and compelled the government to accede to their demands, the source said.
Following the meeting, Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) spokesperson Ginza Vualzong issued a statement, saying it was the “first time in history, a militia that led attacks on innocent civilians because of their ethnicity and which openly displays sophisticated weapons stolen from police armouries was able to order state lawmakers, including the chief minister, to attend a meeting it had called and made the MLAs endorse their demands”.
This report has been revised on the basis of an additional quote from one of the meeting participants. The earlier version of the story, based on the quote of one MLA, was headlined: “MLAs ‘summoned’ by Arambai Tenggol were ‘beaten up’ when they didn’t agree to demands, legislator says”.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
There were no media personnal present during the meeting. How you got all this information??… kuch bhiii.. height of yellow jounalism.. u knw what people stratjnf hating you.. the Print..
@ShekharGupta you are a respected journalist and your points always seemed fair and unbiased to a point . But however some of your staff at @ThePrintIndia is really teeming with biased parachute journalists who have zero ground knowledge and are hogging the #Manipur_Violence trend to run their own selfish agendas . Your media company has really gone downhill . Please correct it , we don’t need another episode of ‘ EGI fake reports on Manipur’ do we ?