Manipuri filmmaker returns Padma award

MP | 4 February 2019 | New Delhi: Veteran Manipuri filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma on Sunday said that he would return the Padma Shri as a mark of protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, terming it "anti-Northeast".

The 83-year-old director, known for Manipuri films such as "Olangthagee Wangmadasu", "Imagi Ningthem" and "Ishanou", was bestowed with the country's fourth highest civilian honour in 2006.

He said the plea of the Northeast people to not let the bill pass was not being heard by the Centre.

"The bill is against the interest of the Northeast and its people, especially in Manipur. All the leaders of the states in the Northeast have already requested the central government to reconsider (on the bill's passage).

"But yesterday when I was following the news, our honourable prime minister announced that the bill would be passed soon. He also requested the chief minister of West Bengal to help him pass the bill. That means the government, rather the BJP, is determined to pass this bill. They are not listening to us," Sharma said.

Citing the example of Tripura, the filmmaker said history would repeat itself in Manipur if the bill is passed.

"We have already seen this in Tripura. Tripuris are having no say in Tripura... The population of Manipur is only 28-29 lakhs, which is less than the population of a district in Uttar Pradesh.

"The smaller states like Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya have protection. Even then they are protesting because if the bill is passed the indigenous people will have no place. They will be wiped out...," he said.