The United Naga Council (UNC) appreciating chief minister N Biren Singh, on the occasion of the 72nd Van Mahotsav Celebrations and carrying out a mass tree plantation program at Mongjol village in Sadar Hills area, under Senapati District, cautioned him to be more realistic in his approach and not fall in line with his past predecessors.
UNC pointing out his recent statement “every land in the state belongs to the government and it has the authority to use those lands for the development and well-being of the people,” published in the Sangai Express on July 6, 2021 said it is constraint to remind him that his recent “statement does not merit with the occasion and has no basis with the facts but it can ill-informe to the present and future generations in a state like Manipur.”
UNC setting the facts striagt added that “We all must frankly admit that, what belongs to the Meiteis is Meiteis and what belongs to the Nagas is Nagas as this two indigenous community had co-existed as immediate neighbours from time immemorial and together landed under British India and forcibly the state of Manipur came into being with the formation of Independent India and Burma in 1948. For which fall out we all have our own movement and struggles for self -determination till date.”
It furthermore clarified that “It is the people who came first and not the state. The state does not own land until it first owns its people. Therefore, the state government must be mindful of what they are doing with any new developments and any new creations.”
As a concluding remark, UNC delved into Mount Koubru range imbroglio and said that “the UNC is equally concerned on the protection and preservation of environmental and ecological balance. It will be good if none become over obsessive on the ownership of the area since it has its own history. The more they assert their rights of ownership over the area. the more they contradict their roots and this they must know and any amount of historical rhetoric and distortion is never going to be a solution. Be what they are, the Nagas and the Meiteis will never be a problem.”
Also read: Tangkhul Chief Association Lambasts CM Biren Over ‘All Lands Belongs To The Government’ Statement
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