(Resolution of the conference on the burning questions facing the movement held on 7th and 8th August 2004, in New Delhi with delegates from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur. In addition to Lok Raj Sangathan, the participating organisations included AIPRF, Delhi, Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha, CITU, Communist Ghadar Party of India, CPIML-New Proletarian, Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha, Jan Pratirodh Manch, Missile newspaper, Modern Foods employees, Revolutionary Democracy, Samata Sangharsh Party, Socialist Unity Centre of India, UTUC (Lenin Sarani) and many activists from other Workers’, Peasants’, Women’s and Teachers’ organisations.)
The brutal rape and murder of Thangjam Ningol Manorama, a 32-year-old Manipuri woman, by the forces of the 17 Assam Rifles stationed in Kanglei Fort in Imphal, has shocked the conscience of the whole of India;
The entire people of Manipur, including the organisations of Nagas, Kukis, Meities and other communities, the Meira Peibis, have engaged in mass protests and facing the wrath of the Indian State since July 11, 2004;
Thousands of women and men, youth and students have been brutalised and arrested in the ongoing protests;
The Members of the Legislative Assembly of Manipur, cutting across party affiliations, have unanimously supported the demand of the people for immediate withdrawal of the fascist Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which has been in force in Manipur since 1980;
The MLAs of Manipur have supported the popular and just demand for the immediate withdrawal of the 17 Assam Rifles from Imphal, and for punishment of the rapists and murderers;
The Prime Minister of India, far from respecting the democratic demands of the people of Manipur, has admonished the Chief Minister of Manipur for suggesting that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act be withdrawn;
The Prime Minister has declared that withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, withdrawal of the 17th Assam Rifles, punishment of the guilty and resolutions to that affect in the assembly, will “encourage secessionist elements in Kashmir and other states” and “demoralise the armed forces”;
The Prime Minister has warned Chief Minister Iboba that he should not go by popular opinion and should not pass a resolution in the Manipur assembly demanding the withdrawal of the Act, or withdrawal of the Assam Rifles;
The PM has suggested that the CM should resign if he cannot ensure “law and order” using the armed forces and the fascist law;
The PM has acted in this way after reportedly consulting with his own senior cabinet colleagues as well as the former home minister LK Advani, former defence minister George Fernandes, and the government’s leftist supporters Harkishan Singh Surjit and A.B. Bardhan;
This Conference RESOLVES that:
The struggle of the people of Manipur for withdrawal of the most fascistic act in India to date, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, and withdrawal of Assam Rifles from Manipur, is absolutely just and deserves the support of all those who value democracy;
The Manipur Assembly has the right as well as duty to pass a resolution condemning Manorama’s bestial killing, and in support of the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and Assam Rifles;
The Prime Minister’s response is a justification for continuing with state terrorism, and for the crimes of the past including the encounter killings of thousands of youth in Punjab, for the communal massacre of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984 and the genocide in Gujarat in 2002
The justification that the brutal violation of the rights of entire peoples is necessary for the sake of defending the unity and integrity of India is based on imperialist and colonial logic, and aimed against all the peoples of this subcontinent, and
We will continue the struggle for the dismantling of the instruments of state terror, as a necessary condition for the affirmation and defence of democratic rights and human rights in India. We shall continue the struggle for the punishment of all those who have been guilty of unleashing state terror against the people, in Manipur, as well as all over the rest of India.
