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Journalism of Courage
A five-day session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly came to an end Tuesday, in which some key resolutions and Bills were passed in the absence of the 10 MLAs representing the state’s Kuki-Zomi community.
Among the key Bills passed was the Manipur Names of Places Bill, 2024, that makes using names of places not authorised by the government a punishable offence.
Through the course of the conflict, as either Kukis or Meiteis fled areas where they were in minority, the names of places were also contested. The most prominent example is over the name of the Kuki-Zomi-dominated district Churachandpur and its district headquarter town with the same name – which draws from the name of a Meitei king – and part of the rejection of the authority of the state government in this district has been asserting the use of name Lamka instead. The Bill instead provides for a “places name committee” that “will give recommendations regarding the names of places subject to the approval of the government”.
Two key resolutions were passed on two of the most hotly contested issues in the ongoing conflict. On the session’s second day, the House “unanimously” passed a resolution to urge the Centre to abrogate the Suspension of Operation (SoO) pact with 25 Kuki militant groups even as talks on extension of agreement is still going on, on the grounds that rules of the pact have been violated by the groups.
While the Kuki-Zomi MLAs have been silent on the rest of the proceedings in the Assembly, they called it a “one-sided resolution”. The other resolution passed was a reaffirmation of the Assembly’s 2022 resolution to urge the Centre to implement a National Register of Citizens in the state.
