With great anger, People’s Voice condemns the brutal killing of migrant workers in Manipur. According to news reports, since March 17, 15 workers have been killed, causing much panic and fear among people from other parts of the country who are working and residing in Manipur.

The people of Manipur have come out in one voice against these sectarian killings. All across Manipur, various mass organisations and people from all walks of life have come out strongly protesting these killings. Protest actions have been organised by women and youth in different parts of the capital city of Imphal. Manipuri students in Delhi have joined hands with other political parties and organisations to condemn the killings.

As usual, the authorities and the media have been trying to suggest that this or that organisation is responsible, but the hand of the Indian state can be clearly seen behind these ghastly murders.

The Indian state has been systematically violating the human rights of the Manipuri people through brutal army terror and the infamous Armed Forces Special Powers Act remains in force, despite country-wide demand that this Act should be immediately revoked. The Indian state aims is to crush the aspirations of the people of Manipur for better conditions of life and for control over their precious resources, by unleashing state terror including sectarian violence against this or that ethnic group, so as to break the fighting unity of the people. Towards this end, the Indian state has deployed various agencies inside Manipur which operate as the covert wing of the state. The recent murders of migrant workers from Bihar must be understood in this context.

The problems of the people of Manipur, as of other states of the north east have their source in the rule of the big bourgeoisie, which ruthlessly exploits the land and labour of various nations and peoples for its super profits; a rule which the Indian state defends with its barbaric state terror. This savage rule of the bourgeoisie has to be put an end to and the rule of the workers and peasants and all the oppressed established, in order that the aspirations of the people can be fulfilled. The rule of workers and peasants will at the same time ensure an end to national oppression by replacing the present Indian Union with a voluntary Union of consenting peoples, in which each constituent nation has the right to self determination up to and including secession.

People's Voice calls upon people all over the country, who are up in arms against the rule of the bourgeoisie, to unite with the aim of ending the rule of the bourgeoisie and ushering in a new political order in which the people will be the masters of their own destiny.