Leaders of North East Students Organisation (NESO) addressing the media in Imphal on Tuesday, April 26 in connection with their campaign supporting hunger striker Irom Sharmila's movement against AFSPA. (NNN Photo)
Imphal | April 26 : The government of India and the people from mainland India think that there are no other Indian States beyond Kolkata, said the chairman of North East Students’ Organization (NESO) Dr Samujjal mockingly today after meeting human rights crusader Irom Sharmila Chanu in Imphal in a show of solidarity to her 10-year long anti AFSPA fast.
In a show of solidarity and in protest against the Central government’s step-motherly treatment towards the Northeast people NESO staged a sit-in in front of its office in Guwahati, informed Dr Samujal at a press conference at the office of All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU) in DM College campus in Imphal.
In the afternoon today, a posse of students’ leaders affiliated to NESO, led by its chairman Dr Samujjal called on the rights crusader Irom Sharmila Chanu at the special ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Porompat near here where she has been kept under judicial custody by the State government on the charge of attempting to commit suicide.
At the press meet at DM College campus, NESO’s chairman said that “NESO has come down to Imphal to show and extend solidarity to the ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sharmila Chanu and to tell her that she is not alone in her demand for the repeal of AFSPA. The whole of Northeast is with her.”
“AFSPA must go from the entire Northeast and NESO will not compromise on the demand. We don’t want any amendment in the Act but a total repeal of the draconian law,” he said. He lamented that political leaders from the Centre, even national media, are biased against the Northeast region with a blatant indifference to the demands and welfare of the people of the region.
“Anna Hazare is a Gandhian and NESO respects him and had supported him in his hunger strike against corruption recently…within 98 hours of the hunger strike the government of India responded positively to the Gandhian’s demand,” he said, adding that “the government should also know that there is a lady who is fasting for more than 10 years in a Gandhian way seeking the repeal of AFSPA from Northeast India.”
“In his time, even Mahatma Gandhi himself did not fast as long as Sharmila Chanu. Sharmila is second to none in the world,” added Dr Samujal for good measure.
Time has come for the Central government to acknowledge that a lady has been fasting for the past one decade, the chairman of NESO said, and all the chief ministers and MPs of the seven Northeast States of India must extend their support and seek positive respond from the Central government in the demand for the repeal of AFSPA raised by Sharmila.
Taking a pot shot at the Prime Minster, Samujal said that even though he represented a constituency in Northeast India, Manmohan Singh is more interested in his Lok Sabha seat rather than the welfare of the Northeast people that he represents.
Also describing to the press after meeting Sharmila at JNIMS, the chairman of NESO quoted the lone crusader as informing the visiting delegates that she has been fasting for the last five days demanding to meet chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh but the chief minister could not spare his time for Sharmila.
Secretary-general of NESO Gunjum Haider who is also advisor to All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union said that “NESO condemns the suppression of freedom of expression by the government against Sharmila.”
Saying that the government of India never attempts to address the genuine demands of Northeast, Mr Haidar asked derisively whether the implementation of AFSPA in the Northeast for the past many years has yielded peace in the region. “The people of Northeast feel humiliated by the implementing AFSPA by the government of India while not doing so in Maoist infested States of the country,” he said.
While blaming the chief ministers and cabinet ministers of all the seven Northeast States of India for not arriving at a concrete decision vis-à-vis the demand for the repeal of AFSPA, the secretary-general said that NESO will continue to unite the people of Northeast and continue to fight against the unlawful Act. “Sharmila is not alone in her agitation,” he said, and warned the government of India “to address the demands of Northeast people before it’s too late.”
The delegates who meet Sharmila today were, besides Dr Samujjal and Gumjum Haider, vice chairman of NESO L Punte, President of AMSU Thokchom Suresh, Hanseng Sangma of Garo Students’ Union, Samuel Jawra and Hembert Kharmih of Khasi Students’ Union, Sankar Prasad Ray and Tapan Kumar Gogoi of All Assam Students’ Union, Upendra Dev Varma of Tripura Students’ Union and Thokchom Surjit of Shillong.
In a show of solidarity and in protest against the Central government’s step-motherly treatment towards the Northeast people NESO staged a sit-in in front of its office in Guwahati, informed Dr Samujal at a press conference at the office of All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU) in DM College campus in Imphal.
In the afternoon today, a posse of students’ leaders affiliated to NESO, led by its chairman Dr Samujjal called on the rights crusader Irom Sharmila Chanu at the special ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Porompat near here where she has been kept under judicial custody by the State government on the charge of attempting to commit suicide.
At the press meet at DM College campus, NESO’s chairman said that “NESO has come down to Imphal to show and extend solidarity to the ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sharmila Chanu and to tell her that she is not alone in her demand for the repeal of AFSPA. The whole of Northeast is with her.”
“AFSPA must go from the entire Northeast and NESO will not compromise on the demand. We don’t want any amendment in the Act but a total repeal of the draconian law,” he said. He lamented that political leaders from the Centre, even national media, are biased against the Northeast region with a blatant indifference to the demands and welfare of the people of the region.
“Anna Hazare is a Gandhian and NESO respects him and had supported him in his hunger strike against corruption recently…within 98 hours of the hunger strike the government of India responded positively to the Gandhian’s demand,” he said, adding that “the government should also know that there is a lady who is fasting for more than 10 years in a Gandhian way seeking the repeal of AFSPA from Northeast India.”
“In his time, even Mahatma Gandhi himself did not fast as long as Sharmila Chanu. Sharmila is second to none in the world,” added Dr Samujal for good measure.
Time has come for the Central government to acknowledge that a lady has been fasting for the past one decade, the chairman of NESO said, and all the chief ministers and MPs of the seven Northeast States of India must extend their support and seek positive respond from the Central government in the demand for the repeal of AFSPA raised by Sharmila.
Taking a pot shot at the Prime Minster, Samujal said that even though he represented a constituency in Northeast India, Manmohan Singh is more interested in his Lok Sabha seat rather than the welfare of the Northeast people that he represents.
Also describing to the press after meeting Sharmila at JNIMS, the chairman of NESO quoted the lone crusader as informing the visiting delegates that she has been fasting for the last five days demanding to meet chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh but the chief minister could not spare his time for Sharmila.
Secretary-general of NESO Gunjum Haider who is also advisor to All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union said that “NESO condemns the suppression of freedom of expression by the government against Sharmila.”
Saying that the government of India never attempts to address the genuine demands of Northeast, Mr Haidar asked derisively whether the implementation of AFSPA in the Northeast for the past many years has yielded peace in the region. “The people of Northeast feel humiliated by the implementing AFSPA by the government of India while not doing so in Maoist infested States of the country,” he said.
While blaming the chief ministers and cabinet ministers of all the seven Northeast States of India for not arriving at a concrete decision vis-à-vis the demand for the repeal of AFSPA, the secretary-general said that NESO will continue to unite the people of Northeast and continue to fight against the unlawful Act. “Sharmila is not alone in her agitation,” he said, and warned the government of India “to address the demands of Northeast people before it’s too late.”
The delegates who meet Sharmila today were, besides Dr Samujjal and Gumjum Haider, vice chairman of NESO L Punte, President of AMSU Thokchom Suresh, Hanseng Sangma of Garo Students’ Union, Samuel Jawra and Hembert Kharmih of Khasi Students’ Union, Sankar Prasad Ray and Tapan Kumar Gogoi of All Assam Students’ Union, Upendra Dev Varma of Tripura Students’ Union and Thokchom Surjit of Shillong.
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