Imphal: Intensifying the agitation demanding the arrest of those involved in the alleged murder of Richard Loitam, a Manipuri student, in Bangalore, students on Monday locked up the offices the Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP).
The students’ organizations demanding justice for the alleged murder of Richard Loitam stormed the offices of the political parties and locked up the offices after ransacking them, before the police could do anything about them.
The students had earlier locked up the offices of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Manipur Peoples’ Party and had a face-off with the police while trying to lock up the Congress office.
Sit-in protests were also organized by students’ bodies at places like Thoubal and effigies were burnt to denounce the inaction and lack of response from the Manipur government regarding the alleged murder of the student of the state in Karnataka.
A press meet was also organized by the students at a place in Imphal after sealing the offices of the political parties, in which the student representatives condemned the racial discrimination of North East students in the Indian mainland.
Various forms of democratic agitations were organized by the students to protest the suspicious deaths of Richard Loitam and Okram Laaba appealing to the government of Manipur to look into the matter and to give justice to the two students, but all the appeals of the students failed to bring about a desirable response from the state and central governments, stated the students’ representatives.
The students stated that the political parties whose offices were locked up did not deem it fit to listen to the appeals of the students to help bring justice regarding the deaths of the two Manipuri students and so their offices were locked as they were of no use to the people of the state, and warned that the students would not be responsible for any unfortunate development if the offices which are locked up by the students are forcibly opened.
“Discrimination of students from the North East has been going on for the last many years but the so called leaders of the state representing the government have been keeping quiet instead of protesting and demanding justice for the numerous victims of molestations, rape and killings, and the discrimination that is being faced till today is a result of the silence maintained by the government regarding all these cases of discrimination”, stated the student representatives. (NNN)