| Students skip classes to hold sit-ins | ||
Imphal, Aug. 27 : The BJP’s Manipur unit today joined the street protests over the July 23 killings and kicked off a statewide campaign against the Okram Ibobi Singh government with a sit-in along National Highway 39 at Yumnam Leikai in Imphal West. Led by party president H. Borobabu Singh, party leaders and workers, including former chief ministers R.K. Dorendro Singh and Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh, squatted by the roadside with “Impose President’s Rule” placards placed before them. The sit-in defied prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC but police did not make any attempt to disperse the protesters. “We are kicking off a statewide campaign against the Ibobi Singh government today. We will hold sit-ins in all the districts and a mass rally probably next month,” Borobabu Singh said. “If a chief minister or a minister misleads the House and the people by giving wrong information, the convention is he should resign. Ibobi gave a false report of the incident (July 23 killings) to the House. So our demand for the CM’s resignation is justified. As he refuses to do so, we are demanding imposition of President’s rule,” Borobabu said. The like-minded parties of Manipur will soon send a delegation to Delhi to press for imposition of President’s rule in the state, he added. Last week, Opposition Manipur Peoples Party (MPP) had taken out a rally defying prohibitory orders and submitted a memorandum to governor Gurbachan Jagat, demanding Ibobi Singh’s ouster. It had also faxed a memorandum to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, seeking her intervention in the restive state. The BJP is the second Opposition party after the MPP to take to the streets in the wake of the July 23 killings of former militant Ch. Sanjit and a woman, Rabina Devi, in alleged firing by police commandos here. Borobabu Singh also demanded abolition of the police commando unit, alleging that it had become the “killing unit” of the Ibobi Singh government with “licence to kill” innocent people. Though the BJP does not have any MLA in the state, the party is growing in strength with two former chief ministers and some other former ministers joining it recently. Elsewhere, too, protesters continued to stage sit-ins to press for Ibobi Singh’s resignation and dismissal of police commandos involved in the July 23 killings. The agitation is being spearheaded by Apunba Lup, a conglomeration of NGOs. The students of Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy and Dhanamanjuri College of Arts skipped classes and staged sit-ins at the gate of their respective institutions here. “Unrest, curfew and general strikes have been going on for more than a month and there is no sign that it will end. It has vitiated the academic atmosphere. So we are taking part in the agitation in support of the Apunba Lup demand,” Lawrench Gangmei, a BA first year student, said. Apunba Lup leader and president of Poirei Leimarol Meira Paibi Apunba Manipur, L. Memchoubi, who was arrested by the police yesterday, was remanded in judicial custody for 15 days by the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal, today. Women stormed the district and sessions judge court complex when Memchoubi was being produced before the magistrate. They shouted slogans, demanding Memchoubi’s unconditional release, and even tried to snatch away her away, though unsuccessfully. |
