Why do we need Constitutional Amendment : 9 points agenda for OSUNE-INDIA, Manipur
- Part 1 -

Dr Khomdon Singh Lisam *

Constitutional of India

1.Introduction

Manipur is the place where the Indian National Flag was hoisted for the first time on 14 April, 1944. Manipur existed as a sovereign kingdom with a written history from 1445 BC till 27 April, 1891. Manipur lost sovereignty to the British following the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. It remained as a princely state under the British suzerainty from 1891 to 1947. Manipur had its own de jure constitution before India wrote her own. Manipur had a democratic form of Government before India become a democratic country in 1950. Manipur is the place which contributes the foundation of cultural heritage in India. Manipur is the origin of modern Polo game. Manipur is the place which is the power house of sports in India.

But history has shown clearly that the Government of India had committed a series of historical blunders against Manipur, which are the beyond the scope of International law during 1947-1950 which led to illegal annexation of Manipur to India

2. Past historical blunders

2.1 Maharaja Bodhachandra had no authority to sign the Instrument of Accession on 15 August, 1947 without consultation with and approval of the then State Council. The dominion of India came into existence only on 15 August, 1947 and Maharaja Bodhchandra was not an omnipotent monarch on 11 August, 1947. He became a constitutional ruler since 1 July, 1947 when he devolved his powers to the newly established State Council. Maharaja Bodhchandra himself said in his inaugural address of the first Manipur State Assembly held on 18 September, 1948 "I now bring to the notice of the people that I had transferred my powers and responsibilities other than the constitutional ruler of the State Council since 1st July, 1947 before the lapse of British paramountcy and since then I have already remained as a Constitutional Ruler".

2.2. There is no legal validity of the Instrument of Accession signed by the Maharajah of Manipur on 11 August, 1947 as it was probably not signed by Lord Mountbatten, Governor General." In case of Jammu and Kashmir, the Instrument of Accession was signed by Maharaja Hari Singh on 26 October 1947, accepted by Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Governor-General of India on 27 October 1947. The Humanist Party, Manipur had requested the Union Home Ministry, Government of India to provide a photocopy of the Instrument of Accession but till date they remain silent about it.

2.3. The Instrument of Accession signed by Maharajah Bodhchandra of Manipur on 11 August was never ratified by the Manipur Constituent Assembly and therefore not valid. In case of Jammu and Kashmir, the Instrument of Accession was ratified on February 15, 1954.

2.4. According to the Government of India Act-1935 (6-(9), as soon as may be after any Instrument of Accession or Supplementary Instrument has been accepted by His Majesty under this section, copies of the Instrument and His Majesty's acceptance thereof shall be laid before the Parliament and all courts shall take judicial notice of every such instrument and acceptance. But there are no records of the accepted copies of the Instrument of Accession of Manipur having laid down before the Parliament and all courts of India.

2.5. Signing of Merger agreement on 21 September, 1949 was done by deceit and forceful tactics contrary to international laws as evident from history. Even after signing the Instrument of Accession, Manipur did not lose her sovereignty as the Union Government was to look after Defence, External affairs and Communications. The signing of the Manipur Merger Agreement was therefore between a sovereign state called Manipur and the Government of India. It should therefore free from coercion or force or undue pressure.

2.6. The 4th sitting of the 3rd session of the Manipur State Assembly in its session held at the Johnston School on 28th September, 1949 at 2.30.p.m. in protest against the "Merger Agreement signed on 21st September 1949" declared the Merger Agreement was invalid as the powers and authorities of Maharaja had been vested with the State Assembly. The excerpt of the Assembly proceedings was published in the Manipur State Gazette, part IV, dated 14 October 1949. Mr. T.C. Tiankham Speaker, Mr. M. K, Priyobarta Singh, Chief Minister amd 6 other Ministers and Hon'ble 43 Members were present and adopted the resolution. The copies of the declaration signed by P.B. Singh, Chief Minister, T.C. Tiankham, Speaker, Arambam Ibungotomcha Singh, Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs was sent to the Government of India. But there is no reply on this issue from the Government of India during the last 62 years.

2.7. Once Manipur became part of the India, the Government of India dissolved the State's Constitution Assembly in October, 1949 without repealing the Manipur Constitution Act-1947. This is another blunder. The Government of India placed Manipur as part C state. This was considered a disgrace to the state and the people of Manipur. Further it was degraded to the status of the union territory from 1956 onwards. In 1972, Manipur was elevated to the status of a state (or province) after a long and protracted struggle. Nagaland was raised from a village republic to Statehood on 1 December, 1963 as a part of appeasement policy of the Government of India towards the Naga underground movement. Manipuris took it as an gross insult to the state and the people of Manipur perpetuated by the Government of India.

3. Historical blunders become a source of perpetual conflicts.

In this respect, we may refer to the statement of G.K. Pillai, former Union Home Secretary, which was published on 27 September, 2011 in the Telegraph newspaper. According to him, the repeal of the draconian act AFSPA -1958 was one of the first steps towards resolving the vexed conflict of Manipur's valley and hills. He said that "the ancient kingdom of Manipur had a constitution even before India wrote her own and had a proud history and was overnight turned into a C-category state in 1948. He further added "we have to build trust by dealing with the core issues. An apology, say by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, for the past mistakes could be a start".

We feel that an apology is not sufficient. These blunders remained as a source and the genesis of all conflicts in the Manipur today and will aggravate it intensity unless the Government comes out with some concrete solutions in the form of constitutional amendment. The mutual trust and respect between Manipur and the Government of India can be restored only by way of constitutional amendments and not through political domination or manipulation.

4. Demands for Constitutional amendments are

4.1 The whole state of Manipur should be declared as hill state.

Article 371 C in The Constitution Of India 1949 makes a special mention of Manipur as follows :-

(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the President may, by order made with respect to the State of Manipur, provide for the constitution and functions of a committee of the Legislative Assembly of the State consisting of members of that Assembly elected from the Hill Areas of that State, for the modifications to be made in the rules of business of the Government and in the rules of procedure of the Legislative Assembly of the State and for any special responsibility of the Governor in order to secure the proper functioning of such committee

(2) The Governor shall annually, or whenever so required by the President, make a report to the President regarding the administration of the Hill Areas in the State of Manipur and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to the State as to the administration of the said areas Explanation. In this article, the expression Hill Areas means such areas as the President may, by order, declare to be Hill Areas

From the reading of this article 371C, it is understood that this article is heavily biased towards the hills and heavily discriminatory against the people in the valley. This particular provision tends to encourage disunity, conflict and clash between the hill people and valley people.

This is a fact that Manipur is 90% hills. The arrival of Hinduism in Manipur had built a wedge between hill and valley. Taking the advantage of the evils of Hindu religion, the British started different administration for hills and valley in the name of protecting hill people and to woo them to accept Christianity. This policy of divide and rule initiated by the British is being continued by the Government of India by incorporating separate provision for hills and valley in the Indian constitution. The people in the hills and valley have common ancestors and common origin. In order to stop the discrimination of one tribe at the cost of other and to bring about solidarity and unity among all ethnic groups in Manipur, It is proposed to amend the Indian Constitution and to treat the whole of Manipur as a Hill state without any distinction of religion, caste and creed.

4.2. The Article 3 of Indian Constitution regarding alteration of state boundaries shall not apply to Manipur to protect the 2000 year old territorial integrity of Manipur

Under Article 3 of Indian Constitution, the parliament may by law -

(a) Form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;
(b) Increase the area of any State;
(c) Diminish the area of any State;
(d) Alter the boundaries of any State;
(e) Alter the name of any State:

provided that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired.

The Manipuris are very proud of their history from 1445 BC to 1949. The boundary maps of Manipur is engraved in the heart of every Manipuri. The emotional attachment is so strong that they are ready to sacrifice their lives to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur Perhaps another Khongjom War may be required to break the territorial integrity of Manipur. This has been demonstrated on 18 June 2001 when 18 precious lives were lost and more than 5 lakh people came out in the street when the Government of India unwittingly declared the Naga ceasefire without territorial limits.

The Government of India repeatedly threaten to sacrifice the territory of Manipur on various occasions to satisfy the whims of a particular underground group-NSCN-IM This has happened in spite of many strong resolutions taken by the Manipur State Assembly to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur. This repeated humiliations by the Government of India has resulted to loss of trust between the Government of India and the people of Manipur. In order to regain the trust and confidence of the Manipuris in national building, the Government of India should immediately take steps to amend the India Constitution mentioning specifically that Article 3 of Indian Constitution shall not apply to Manipur.

To be continued...