Manipur, Jan. 24 -- A 12-hour blanket ban has been announced to shun the 71st Republic Day celebration with a total shutdown from 6 am to pm by the proscribed United People's Revolutionary Front of Manipur (UPRFM).

Specifically stating the irrelevancy of the Republic Day celebrations in an oppressed state like Manipur, the UPRFM in a statement has said that people in the state knew only too well about the extent of suffering they had to go through under the subjugation they were subjected to from the very beginning of the takeover of the state by the Indian union.

Stating that Manipur had a written constitution in 1947, much before the Indian Republic was formed, the statement said that Manipur was a sovereign state as early as 1948.

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