Hundreds of Kolkatans walked in silence on Friday with a prayer for “lasting peace” and normality in Manipur.
Teachers, students and priests were on the road for the rally that started at St Paul’s Cathedral and wound up to the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road.
The call for the march was given by the Bengal Christian Council, a religious body affiliated to the National Council of Churches in India.
“Bengal Christian Council... is deeply pained and concerned about the ongoing ethnic violence which flared up in May 2023 in... Manipur, involving the Meitei community and the Naga and the Kuki tribal communities. Many lives have been lost, many injured and thousands of people have been evacuated and encamped under military protection. Several churches have been burnt and destroyed,” Reverend Paritosh Canning, president, Bengal Christian Council, and bishop of the Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India, said in a press statement.
The council called it a crisis and expressed “solidarity with the affected communities, particularly with the churches who have faced the brunt” of the violence.
It sought to remind the governments at the Centre and in Manipur that “sustainable peace is however far more than the mere absence of violence and, ultimately, only justice and reconciliation can bring lasting peace”.
Representatives of various denominations of churches like the Methodist Church and the Assembly of God Church and of Kolkata and Barrackpore dioceses of the Church of North India joined the
march.
“Bengal Christian Council strongly condemns the violence, appeals to all parties to refrain from further attacks, and urges the State and Central Governments to continue the steps taken to restore normalcy, take appropriate non-violent measures to restore peace and normalcy by engaging the affected communities in meaningful dialogue...” the council’s statement says.
The statement says: “Worship places and houses were attacked and burned, and heavy damage inflicted.... We urge the communities to refrain from mindless acts of violence, arson, looting and abuse of women as that is not the answer to such issues. We also urge the communities to support the authorities in bringing lasting peace... to the region.”
The alleged apathy of the central government in resolving the crisis was a cause for concern for some who joined the rally on Friday.
“The central government should intervene to stop the violence and initiate peace talks... the lack of desire to resolve (the situation in Manipur) is only aggravating the violence there,” said Reverend Sunil Caleb, principal, Bishop’s College.
“The number of people who turned up today bears testimony to the fact that we in Kolkata want people to live in harmony and hence we raise our voice whenever there is oppression or violence.”
“We have been praying. It is the responsibility of every individual to pray for peace in Manipur,” Reverend Canning told The Telegraph at the end of the peace rally.
Rupkatha Sarkar, principal, La Martiniere for Girls, who joined the rally said: “We are all part of one nation. We want peace and security for every citizen.... There is nothing that we cannot solve if we understand each other.”
Many students walked, too.