Students from Manipur in Calcutta came together on Sunday evening to express their anguish over the recent killing of two Manipuri students — Phijam Hemjit, 20, and Hijam Linthoingambi, 17 — in that state.
They also called out the “collective failure” of the BJP-run Manipur government and the Centre in restoring peace in the Northeastern state.
“We are dumbfounded by the way two young students have been murdered. It could have been any one of us. It’s been close to five months since the violence broke out in Manipur and there seems no end. We don’t deserve such suffering, such treatment,” said Deviya Ningthoujam, a first-year student of homoeopathy in Calcutta, who joined the gathering on the ground floor of Manipur Bhawan in south Calcutta.
Manipur has been witnessing violent protests since Tuesday when hundreds of school and college students joined rallies in the Imphal valley to protest the killing of the two students, who had been missing since July 6.
“We are hopeless. We don’t trust the state government and the Centre. For months we have been screaming for peace and now we don’t know whom to trust. Worst of all, not many are even aware of what’s happening in our state,” said Ningthoujam, from Waroiching in Bishnupur district in Manipur.
She said her family members have been shifted out of their ancestral home to a relief camp at a state-run school, where they have been staying for three months.
“The ignorance of a large part of India about our plight in Manipur makes us feel that we are meant to suffer because we were born in this Northeastern state. Houses
have been burnt. Places of worship have been destroyed and innocents killed. Even young students have not been spared. We want justice. Please join us,” Ningthoujam said.
“When Delhi was recently flooded, the whole country got to know because the Centre ensured everyone was aware of the plight of the residents of the country’s capital. But it’s not the same with Manipur,” said Khetanjali Singha, a first-year student of commerce at a private university on the outskirts of Calcutta.
A resident of Imphal West, Khetanjali believes the Narendra Modi government could have restored peace in her state had it wanted to. The intent is missing, she said.
“Whatever happened to the two young students is wrong. It’s difficult to live with this. If this had happened in Gujarat, the Prime Minister would have stepped in and wouldn’t have allowed any escalation of violence. But with Manipur, there’s an absence of effort to restore peace. Maybe the Prime Minister is seeing our state through a political prism,” she said.
Across the hall, the youths struggled to hold back their anger as candles were lit and everyone joined a queue to offer flowers in memory of the slain students.
“The state government has entrusted the CBI with a probe into the murders. But the government should have stepped in earlier,” said Aribam Gichandra Sharma, a resident of Thoubal district in Manipur and a student at St Xavier’s College.