Manipuri filmmaker to return Padma Shri over Citizenship Bill

[caption id="attachment_231696" align="alignright" width="500"] Aribam Syam Sharma[/caption] Our Correspondent Imphal, Feb. 3 (EMN): Fifteen-times National Award winner Manipuri filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma on Sunday said he will return the Padma Shree—the fourth highest civilian award in India— to protest t the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Speaking to reporters at his residence inThangmeiband, Imphal on Sunday, Syam said the people of Manipur needed protection from the Bill. Some of the states in northeast have regulation to protect their people, he said. Syam said Manipur, though small in size, is also one of the states of the country. “It should not be counted on population basis,” he said adding that ‘they should respect us as a state –small or big because the Union of India is made up of states.’ Mentioning the appeal by the Meghalaya chief minister to the people of the region to unite against the Bill, he said “when the northeastern states jointly present something to the government, they should consider it and if they do not consider, we have to oppose.” The 83-year-old filmmaker said he decided to return the award to show solidarity towards the growing public demand for opposition to the Bill. Stating that the state has only one or two MPs in the house of 500 plus members, he questioned so what voice can we have in parliament. Manipur has been witnessing continuous public movements against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill after it  was passed in the Lok Sabha on Jan. 8. People continue to stage sit-in-demonstration against the Bill during the day while torch rallies aere held in the evening demanding the withdrawal of the Bill. On February 1, a people’s convention held under the aegis of Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (MANPAC), a common platform of 72 civil society organisations in Manipur, reaffirmed to launch a sustained movement until the unconditional withdrawal of the Bill.