GUWAHATI: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh alleged that journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem, who was sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a local court, had tried to incite and propagate secessionist idea spearheaded by the militant groups.
“With the effort of the governments at the Centre and the state, Manipur is witnessing a decline in insurgency activities. The video uploaded by Kishorechandra had serious intention to undermine the effort of the government to curb insurgency but incites and propagates the secessionist idea spearheaded by the insurgent outfits,” Singh told this correspondent.
He said the video uploaded by Wangkhem on Facebook insulted the celebration of the Rani of Jhansi, Lakshmibai, as a symbol of unity, integrity, nationalism and sovereignty of India.
“In the video, Wangkhem says ‘do you have any sense of nationalism in Manipur. Rani Jhansi has nothing to do with Manipur. But do not betray and insult the freedom fighters of Manipur. Do not betray the present freedom struggle of Manipur. Do not insult at least the people of Manipur’, Singh said.
He argued: “Are not these words questioning the unity, integrity, sovereignty and nationalism of India? Or are they mere criticism against me or my party or the Prime Minister? Is taking legal action against those questioning the unity, integrity, sovereignty and nationalism of India thereby inciting secessionist idea not the duty of a government?”
Wangkhem had uploaded the video on November 19 wherein he used expletives to slam BJP-RSS and the state government. On the day he had uploaded it, local television channel “Information Service TV Network”, where he worked, sacked him.
He had described the CM as a “puppet of Modi and Hindutva”. He was miffed with the state government for organizing a function in October to mark the birth anniversary of Lakshmibai. He said she had nothing to do with Manipur’s freedom movement.
Recently, the Manipur High Court sent notices to the state and the Central governments asking them to respond by February 1 against the petition filed by Wangkhem challenging his detention order under NSA.
Meanwhile, over 60 journalists from India and abroad have sought the release of Wangkhem. They described the slapping of NSA as “arbitrary, high-handed and vindictive”.