Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) president Irengbam Chaoren said the outfit has no intention to enter into peace talks with India as of now.

Chaoren stated this in his message to the people on the occasion of 43rd Foundation Day of RPF (Independence Demand Day).

He said India’s strategy of Peace-Talks aims at making the revolutionaries disarm or immobile thereby losing the real character and capacity of a revolutionary. Many of the revolutionary groups of WESEA, who have entered into Peace-Talks with India are now in a situation of between “the Scylla and Charybdis”. History is testimony to this fact. “We have seen the failed process of Peace-Talks and agreements fallen apart. We have seen the 9 Point Agreement of 1947, 16 Point Agreement of 1960 and the 1975 Shillong Accord between India and Naga revolutionary and more than 6 years old Framework Agreement, are meant to trade Naga’s freedom with some material benefits”. Likewise, Mizoram Accord of 1986 and TNV Tripartite Accord of 1988 were the agreements that had destroyed the idea of freedom. Besides, India has snatched away the special autonomy enjoyed by the people of Jammu and Kashmir and kept the region in semi-military rule, he added.

Chaoren said the so-called SoO or Peace-Talks were entered out of various compelling factors.

“Under such a situation it is not possible to achieve freedom through peace talks particularly in the WESEA region which India treats as their enemy by enforcing AFSPA and other draconian laws. India, which harbour the intention of colonising even the independent neighbouring countries under the vision of “Akhand Bharat”, it is hard to believe that freedom of Manipur will be achieved through peace-talks or political dialogue”, said Chaoren.

They consider revolutionaries as misguided ones and this is evident from the slogan “bringing back to mainstream” used by the “colonial” regime. This slogan is not only insulting the liberation struggle but also an attempt to destroy the true character of our struggle, said Irengbam Chaoren.

The RPF president reminded that historically Manipur had never been a part of India, it is only within the span of 70 years and Manipur became the part of India, that too, without and against the wishes of our people.

As such, he said, there is no reason that people of Manipur should remain content and happy to be part of India. It is unfortunate that some “lumpen” elements in our society consider Manipur becoming as part of India an inevitable part in the evolution of the Geo-political process and they consider it as necessary for the development and prosperity of Manipur.

These “lumpen” elements by taking part in the Indian electoral process not only make

themselves a puppet but also work hard to tarnish or destroy our independent political history by helping the alien rule in various ways. Some elements are helping to strengthen colonial forces and working against the wishes of freedom loving people of our land, said the president. “They treated their own people as their enemy. Their Self-deceiving character of showing themselves real Indian and wholeheartedly helping towards the assimilation of our people within the fold of India have only strengthened the colonial regime”.

The RPF president pointed out that recently a BJP leader against the backdrop of the incident of burning down some Hindu temples in Bangladesh commented India could have annexed Bangladesh in 1971, when India had defeated Pakistan and still if India has the intention it could annex Bangladesh anytime. There is no reason for not to consider such a fact and rethink wisely when there is an offer of peace-talks with India.

“Even though India has occupied Manipur, the love of freedom which we have nourished in our heart cannot be occupied. This love of freedom is something that has engraved in the hearts of all of us which cannot be vanished by any forces. It was the love of freedom that our forefathers had fought the mighty British Empire in 1891 even though the defeat was inevitable. It was because of this spirit that there was no intention to surrender even after the defeat. The liberation struggle that we are waging against Indian colonialism has not seen any defeat, so there is no question of trading Manipur’s freedom by entering into peace-talks with India”, said Chaoren.

“As India is using several methods and ways to suppress our liberation struggle, we also need to find out new methods and ways to defeat India. However, it does not mean that we think we can defeat India easily. As a strategy we not only need the support of outside power but also a unified revolutionary front and struggle of all revolutionary groups of the WESEA region is necessary and essential”, he said. However, our first priority is making ourselves a complete and stronger revolutionary party.

Chaoren said the revolutionary movement related problems faced by our people and lack of communication or misunderstanding between our people and revolutionary groups in recent times have strained the relationship between the two and it has negatively impacted the growth of revolutionary journey. However, problems faced by the people are not intentionally done by the revolutionary groups, he said.

Any revolutionary group does not harbour the intention to cause any problem or injury or misery to people, it was purely the creation of many compelling factors and situations. There were times when revolutionaries tried to defend themselves from the clutches of the enemy our people had suffered because of this. But it was not intentionally done by revolutionaries. Such misunderstanding between our people and revolutionaries has hampered the growth of the collective struggle of our people and revolutionaries against the colonial regime. But we cannot make our revolution hinder due to these factors. It is the duties and responsibilities of every revolutionary group to chalk out new strategies to hasten the pace of our revolution. In the process we should learn from the past mistakes and take the revolution forward by giving priority to life, liberty and property of our people. We should carry our revolution along with masses based on the respect and understanding of the wishes of people. Instead of spreading propaganda about the mistakes committed by the revolutionaries, which the enemy has used as an instrument to suppress the revolution, our people should give a chance to the revolutionaries to rectify the mistakes through self-introspection.

RPF believes in the collective independent struggle by uniting all the communities of Manipur irrespective of religion, ethnicity, languages and race. Many individuals from the hill areas of Manipur who believed in our ideology had started to join the RPF. However, some revolutionary groups started threatening the individuals and their families, this has led to a situation where conflict between the revolutionary groups became an imminent possibility. It is due to this fact that RPF has to postpone the recruitment from among the hill areas, the president explained.

He alleged that taking due advantage of the situation, the Indian colonial regime and their agent had spread propaganda that revolutionary groups of Manipur are confined to valley areas only in order to throw our revolution in a wrong light. Besides, the Indian Army through the instrument of SOO and Peace-Talks have built up the camps in the hill areas. As a result there is difficulty of our organisation in establishing camps and free movement in the hill areas.

This has hampered the establishment of cordial relationships between people and revolutionary groups in the areas. But the situation has changed now because of the emergence of revolutionary groups, who are against the ideology of ethnic exclusivism and its futility. Now people have realized the real danger of such ideology and Machiavellian tactics of the Indian regime. RPF is marching the revolutionary journey with such groups through cooperation and collaboration for the liberation of Manipur. This shows clearly that independence of Manipur is the desire and wishes of every community inhabiting in Manipur, he said.

The outfit said COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 58 lacs across the world and more than 2000 lives in Manipur is a pandemic that poses a great challenge and danger to humanity as a whole in a new form and variant. So far the Government of India has claimed that the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 5 lakh people. But a recent study published in the Journal Science believed that the pandemic might have taken the lives of more than 30 lacs people in India. Even in Manipur, people believed that the figure could be more than what the government claimed. As such we cannot remain careless and complacent even though the situation is improving with a lower positivity rate. Smaller nations like Manipur should take extra precautionary measures to protect ourselves from the pandemic. As such, it appealed to the public to follow the SOPs given by the experts and in addition the Government also needed to formulate the appropriate strategy to stop the spread of pandemic. Even in countries like China following strict “Zero COVID Policy”, the pandemic has not spared and is spreading, it said.

But in Manipur the situation is not improving and more and more people are getting infected. This is because Manipur follows India’s strategy which is based on the strategy of western Democracy. “What we need to understand is that even in the USA, claimed to be the most developed and advanced in every field, the pandemic has claimed more than 9 lakh people. Even Europe is facing immense difficulty while curbing the pandemic. If we imitate the movement against vaccination such as “my body my choice” and the movement against wearing masks which are taking place in some of the Western Democracies in the name of liberty, the pandemic will naturally increase”, it said.

The RPF president also offered revolutionary salute to all the freedom fighters

who had laid down their lives for the cause of the revolutionary movement. He also extended his wishes to people of Manipur on the auspicious occasion of the 43rd foundation day of RPF