The northeastern state of Manipur recently witnessed violent outbursts affecting the normal state of affairs and disrupting life. The ordeal, which began on May 3, has been going on for months and tensions still prevail among the communities engaged in the violence.
Bringing out stories from those dark days, the book titled "Manipur Files" by Pranabananda Das was launched in Assam's Silchar on Sunday.
The author of the book, Pranabananda Das is a journalist and the Executive Secretary of the Bengali daily 'Bartalipi', launched it officially at a formal event at a hotel in Silchar, in the presence of former Executive Editor of Anandabazar Patrika, Suman Chattopadhyay.
In his speech at the launch of the book, the veteran journalist from Kolkata said the author Pranabananda Das presented the events in Manipur in an impartial and brutal manner.
Suman Chattopadhyay said, "Every occurrence in Manipur will be brought to you through Manipur Files. It has enough information for the readers to match the hours of research it would require to gather the information from the internet."
Criticising the Centre for its inability in bringing the state of affairs in Manipur to normalcy, Suman further said, "Even after the evident failure of Assam Rifles and CRPF initially deployed there, why did the Centre not deploy armed forces. The cruel political intentions come to the fore from these decisions."
On the other hand, explaining the reason behind writing Manipur Files, author Pranabananda Das said, "As a journalist, I had to keep an eye on the events in Manipur on a daily basis. The situation in Manipur deteriorated at every moment since violence first broke out. It was followed by several decisions that curbed free speech like suspension of internet services. This led to daily stories not coming to the fore through mainstream media. When I came to know about such cases, I felt the need to bring them out to the people. With that thought, I had started writing this book."
However, it now remains to be seen weather the book will prompt filmmakers into action following the rapid success of films like "Kashmir Files" and "The Kerala Story".
