Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh speaks to reporters in Imphal
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday said safeguarding the integrity of the country is the duty of every citizen and no one can challenge the state's sovereignty. His remarks came in response to a question by a reporter about Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma's comments during his visit in September to the US.
Lalduhoma reportedly expressed support for the unification of the Zo people under a single leadership and said "even if it meant transcending national borders".
Zo is a term to denote different groups of related tribes sharing cultural and linguistic affinities and living in parts of the northeast, Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, and Myanmar's Chin State.
"I don't want to react or comment on him (Lalduhoma). As a proud Indian, as the Chief Minister of Manipur, and as a nationalist, no one can touch India's integrity and Manipur's integrity. India is not just a country, it is a big country, and we should be proud to be Indians," Mr Singh said.
He stressed that his position was clear, stating that the unity and integrity of India must be preserved at all costs.
"I don't want to comment on others' personal views, but my stand is very clear - to maintain the unity and integrity of India. Keeping India strong is our duty, and anyone who challenges it will be given a befitting reply," Mr Singh told reporters after attending a school function in Imphal.
According to the website of the Mizoram government's Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Lalduhoma, while addressing the Zo diaspora in the US in September, said, "We are one people - brothers and sisters - and we cannot afford to be divided or apart from one another. I want us to have the conviction and confidence that one day, through the strength of God, who made us a nation, we will rise together under one leadership to achieve our destiny of nationhood."
"While a country may have borders, a true nation transcends such limitations. We have been unjustly divided, forced to exist under three different governments in three different countries, and this is something we can never accept," he said.
Mizoram shares a 510-km long border with Myanmar's Chin state and the Mizos share ethnic ties with the Chins. Lalduhoma had earlier said that people in Mizoram and Myanmar do not accept the present border as it was demarcated and imposed by the British on the Mizo people without consulting them.