On Sunday, 6 August ‘23 Sarva Astha Manch, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, organized a silent protest march in which more than 1000 participants from different religions – Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Tribal and Dalit representatives participated. Many Superiors from different religious communities and Parish Priests participated in the rally. Many believers from other Christian denominations also attended.
They walked 3 km from Cathedral, Pensonbada to Ambedkar Chawk holding placards like “Manipur Sarkaar Barkhast Karo”, “Manipur me Mahilaon Par Atyachaar Band Karo”, “Manipur Me Shanti Stafit Karo”, etc. When the march concluded there was a massive crowd. Around 100 police personnel provided tight security.
Addressing the crowd Archbishop Victor Henry Thakur of Raipur said that the Manipur carnage was preplanned by the communal outfits. He felt confident that justice will be done some day to the people of Manipur. He asked the audience to pray for peace, harmony, and justice. CNI (Church of North India) Bishop Ajay Umesh James urged the authorities to protect the constitutional human rights of all the citizens of India.
Other speakers were Mr. Man Mohan Sailani, Vice President, leader of the Sikh community, Nitin Lawrence, Secretary, Mr. Faisal Rizvi, advocate, leader of Muslim community, Mr. Prem Shankar Gauntiya, Spokesperson of the forum and leader of Jain community, Sr. Deepika, SMMI, Provincial, and Sr. Mary Ruchi Dhanaraj. They asked the Manipur State government restore peace and harmony immediately.
All in the audience stood for two minutes of silence to honour all those killed in the Manipur violence. After the prayer at the Ambedkar Statue, a delegation of 25 members submitted a memorandum to the President of India and the Governor of Chhattisgarh.
