Ibobi gives it back word for word to BJP

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Oct 31: Former Chief Minister and CLP leader Okram Ibobi has lashed out at BJP calling the saffron party accustomed to making all kinds of wild accusations and unfounded  allegations.
The Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) today observed the 150th birth anniversary of India’s first Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the 41st death anniversary of the country’s first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Congress Bhavan, BT Road here.
Replying to queries raised by media persons by the sideline of the function, Ibobi decried the charges made by ex-Chief Minister N Biren that a large number of illegal immigrants  came to Manipur because of the Congress Government’s failure to fence the Indo-Myanmar border and scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR).
BJP has been deceiving the people by making all kinds of wild allegations, he said.
Official records are testimonies of when the border fencing started. Everyone knows when the border fencing work was started, Ibobi said.    
When there were Congress Governments both in the State and at the Centre, the Ministry of Home Affairs sanctioned a project of fencing the Indo-Myanmar border for 10 Kms in 2010-11.
The border fencing work started soon after the project was sanctioned and BJP’s ex-Chief Minister must keep this fact in mind, the CLP leader said.
However, the border fencing work was impeded because of objections raised by one organisation called ICHAM.
ICHAM president Nongthombam Boy raised strong objections to the border fencing work. People know who this said ICHAM president is, Ibobi said.
During the time of British India, people of Myanmar and India could cross into each other’s territory for 40 Kms without any visa. However, this visa-free movement for 40 Kms was reduced to just 10 Kms during the time of Congress Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, he said.
By covering up what Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh did, BJP has been trying to take credit for limiting the distance of visa-free cross-border movement, he said.
Ibobi said that he does not feel like responding or reacting to the many fabricated, false allegations made by BJP.
On being asked about the apparent polarisation among Congress leaders on the appointment of a chairman of MPCC sports department and the claim made by some Congress leaders that there is no such post as MPCC sports department chairman, the CLP leader, MPCC president K Meghachandra said that the sports department was there since the past.
It was there since the time of former MPCC president Gaikhangam. The sports department was not created recently, Meghachandra said.
The Congress leader who claimed that there is no sports department in MPCC might not have known the Congress party’s constitution fully, he said.
Congress leaders might have different opinions but there is no disunity, the MPCC president said.
He said that the Congress party would work relentlessly to bring peace and normalcy in Manipur.
The Centre’s BJP Government not allowing its own party to form a popular Government in the State is nothing but suppression of democracy, he said.
If the Centre wanted, the Manipur crisis could have been brought to an end within a week but the Centre does not want the Manipur crisis to end, he said.
Failure to maintain law and order on the part of the BJP Government which was there before the imposition of President’s Rule led to the protracted crisis, he asserted.
The ex-Chief Minister publicly admitted intelligence failure as well as his Government’s inability to maintain law and order. The   ex-Chief Minister tendered an apology to the public, the MPCC president recalled.
Apart from O Ibobi and K Meghachandra, the function held at Congress Bhavan was attended by former Lok Sabha Member Dr T Meinya, ex-MLAs and  a number of Congress leaders and workers.
The gathering paid floral tributes to photographs of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Indira Gandhi.
Speaking on the occasion, O Ibobi stated that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel took key roles in unifying over 565 princely States and forming the present India.
On the other hand, Indira Gandhi took momentous roles in protecting the unity and integrity of India, he said.