Saddened by the ongoing blockades and strike in the insurgency-hit Manipur, many sportspersons including the celebrated pugilist write an open letter to their fellow Indian citizens, asking them to come forward and seek a democratic solution to the problems of Manipur. Here is the full text of the letter.
Dear Fellow Indians,
We are sportspersons who love to play our sport and bring smiles to our people. We play as ‘India’ and we play for the pride of our countrymen. There can be nothing bigger an award for us than people cheering at our every move and pray for a win every time we play.
We believe that the sportspersons and common people ooze the tears of happiness and sorrow together. We are from this beautiful part of India, popularly known as North East. We are simple people smiling our way to achieve our simple dreams. We love to play and win. We love to smile and show to the world how wonderful this corner of the earth is. But, alas, it is not the case always!
As much as we have enjoyed the privilege of representing you in various international platforms, today we are very saddened at what is repeatedly going on in our beloved and beautiful state of Manipur. The common people have been struggling everyday for basic amenities of life. The four month long economic blockade and resultant deadlock have affected the normal life of every common man of this part of the country.
It’s sad to see this great nation giving a deaf ear while lakhs of its citizens in one of the most vibrant states – Manipur have been suffering under the dark shadow of the economic blockade for more than 120 days. It’s painful to see no conclusive action from any of the responsible quarters for over 4 months when the people of Manipur were made to struggle for basic essential items, life saving drugs and many more.
It’s same state which has produced some of the best sportspersons for this country who have brought laurels to the nation at international platforms; it’s the same state which has given some of the best performing art forms and artistes to the nation.
Today, they need your support. They need support from everyone to put an end to the sufferings and help them live a normal life.
We appeal to everyone to restrain from using economic blockade or other such extreme modes of protest on humanitarian grounds and find a solution through democratic way. At the same time, we appeal to our fellow countrymen and the people’s representatives to join hands and help bring back Manipur on the growth path and make it an integral part of the development of our nation.
Let us, the people of this country, work towards rebuilding the jewel of India.
We hope that our honourable prime minister will sow the seeds of peace and lay the foundation of a prosperous Manipur when he visits the state on 3rd December, 2011.
Hopefully,
Kunjarani Devi
(Weightlifting) (Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Winner, 1996-1997)
M C Mary Kom
(Boxing) (Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Winner, 2008-2009 )
Baichung Bhutia
(Football) (Former Captain of Indian National Football Team)
Gourmangi Singh
(Football)
Monica Devi
(Weightlifting)
Govind Singh
(Football)
Sandhyarani
(Wushu)
Sushil Singh
(Football)
Lalrindika Ralte
(Football)
Rocus Lamare
(Football)
Carbon Copies: Rashtrapati Bhawan, Vice President’s Office, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha, Prime Minister’s Office, Leader of Lok Sabha, Leader of Rajya Sabha, Deputy Leader of Lok Sabha, Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha, Chairperson of UPA, Chief Justice of India, Chairman of Press Council of India, Governors of all the states of Indian Union, Chief Ministers of all the states of Indian Union
Blank Carbon Copies: All the editors of Indian newspapers, wires, electronic media and all the concerned journalists