The Mothers of Manipur Quotes

“If the police came forward we would have torn their clothes off. We were like goddess Kali — ready to devour.’ After the protest, she fell unconscious because her blood pressure was quite low. Her granddaughters were angry with her. She told them, ‘You are not the only granddaughters for me, all the young girls are my granddaughters.”
― Teresa Rehman, The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History

“If the police came forward we would have torn their clothes off. We were liked goddess Kali — ready to devour.’ After the protest, she fell unconscious because her blood pressure was quite low. Her granddaughters were angry with her. She told them, ‘You are not the only granddaughters for me, all the young girls are my granddaughters.”
― Teresa Rehman, The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History

“…in an insurgency-ravaged state, mothers can emerge as a shield — a protective umbrella, Mothers belong to neither party — the security people doing their job and the insurgents busy with theirs.”
― Teresa Rehman, The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History

“The AFSPA gives a blank cheque to the security forces. The Act has to be repealed in order to usher in normalcy in the state. The UGs [underground groups] too might calm down. Now everyone has lost their balance — the security forces as well as the UGs.”
― Teresa Rehman, The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History

“Manipuri women are very strong. I don’t know if it’s because of the bitter experience or if it is real courage, but we are very resilient. I feel proud that I am a woman and not a man.”
― Teresa Rehman, The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History

“What is particularly poignant in the accounts is the sense of frailness of body pitted against the enormity of the project. These were ordinary women, most of them vendors in Imphal’s Ima Keithel (mother’s market), who now had to transform themselves into an unstoppable force. Despite palpitations of the heart, fits of dizziness, insomnia, failing eyesight, the planning for that action had to be meticulous: inner garments had to be removed leaving only the enaphi and phanek (the upper and lower garment) to make the act of stripping swifter, jewellery needed to be tied in little bundles and kept in safe custody and above all, utmost secrecy had to be maintained with not even close family members being informed in order to ensure that the authorities didn’t get wind of their plans.”
― Teresa Rehman, The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History