Hmar students association denounces Prime Minister Modi’s claim

Pothashang News Service: Imphal, May 1, 2018: The Hmar Students’ Association, general headquarters is exasperated by the pretentious claim of the government of India “that with the connection of a remote village – Leisang Village in Manipur to the grid, India is now fully electrified ” said a press statement released by Josef V Tuolor, general secretary the student body.

The government further went on to state that all the villages in India are now fully electrified ahead of the deadline of 1000 days set by the Prime Minister in August 2015.The Prime Minister himself tweeted about this “achievement” calling April 28 a historic day.

This is a very inopportune time for the Prime Minister to make the wild claims he is making. What does the Prime Minister and his administration think they are achieving with all these fabricated alternative facts remains a mystery. Who are they trying to fool?, added the statement.

All these wild claims are nothing but unfounded, and farthest from the truth. The government is shamelessly lying about its achievement, and this misleading behaviour is a blatant attempt on the path of the government to draw a blind over the public eye with dubious and inflated statements about their achievements.

Irrespective of the Prime Minister’s tall claims, the fact remains that there are villages the country in this present age and time which are literally languishing in the dark once the night falls. As a matter of fact, there are more than 50 villages in the Pherzawl district of Manipur, which are yet to be electrified!! In addition to this, there are more than 50 villages in the Dima Hasao district, and more than 30 villages in the Barak Valley area of Cachar district of Assam which are yet to be electrified. The HSA-GHQ can state with utmost confidence about the non-electrification of these villages, as the above mentioned areas in the two states falls within the Hmar Tribe dominated areas.

If the Prime Minister could make such a bold statement, wherein he had stated with gusto on the  April 28, that the whole country is now fully electrified, terming the development as historic landmark in the annals of power supply in the country. Then, are we to infer that these aforementioned areas in the states of Manipur and Assam are not an integral part of the Union of India/ Republic of India as they are yet to be connected to the power grid and to this very day are still un-electrified in spite  of the Prime Minister’s uncorroborated claim.

It is indeed heartening to learn of the Prime Minister’s sincere intention to provide electricity to every nook and corner of the country in the true spirit of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. But making fallacious claims about every single village in the country has been connected to the power grid / has been electrified will not illuminate the minds and hearts of the rural villagers, leave aside their households. For the simple villagers it will be just another political ruse, nothing more, nothing new.

The state governments of Assam and Manipur are equally responsible for this parody of truth/for this distortion of reality and for feeding erroneous reports to the PMO. The Prime Minister’s unsubstantiated claim of the whole country being fully electrified for the first time since the nation achieved Independence is outright deceptive, misleading and truly unfortunate. It also exposes the huge administrative lag that exists in the Government – between aspiration and actual performance on the ground.

In the end, truth alone always triumphs. It won’t be an overstatement to state that the Prime Minister himself is completely in the dark about the true state of affairs as far as the electrification of the villages in the country is concerned. It will bode well for him and the country, if he first get his facts right before making statement from his end which is totally out of sync with the reality/the situation on the ground.