Imphal, Feb. 10: The campaign for popularisation of Meitei script intensified today with its supporters burning thousands of books written in the Bengali script here.
School texts and novels written in Bengali were burnt at the Keisampat bus parking in the heart of Imphal city and Kongpal Thongkhong in Imphal East by activists of the Meitei Irol Iyek Loinasinlon Apunlup Kangleipak. They had collected the books from two bookstalls and several educational institutions in the city earlier in the day.
Though the Keisampat bus parking falls in the high security Imphal City zone because of its proximity to Raj Bhavan, no police personnel came to extinguish the bonfire of books.
General secretary of the organisation, Basanta Kumar, said the activists had burnt the books in protest against the government?s refusal to fulfil their demand of replacing Bengali script with Meitei script in schools and colleges. He warned that the campaign would continue if the government remained a mute spectator. The organisation has declared 2005 as the year of the Meitei script.
The Bengali script has been used in Manipur since King Pamheiba (1709-1748) burnt all books written in the Meitei script and introduced the Bengali script under the influence of missionary Shantidas Gosai who hailed from the present day Bangladesh.
The Meitei script campaign started during the 276th anniversary of puya meithaba (burning of Meitei books), observed at the Imphal palace compound on February 2.
Chingsubam Akaba, the president of Meitei National Front, another group campaigning for popularisation of the script, called for a concerted campaign. ?It is our demand that Meitei script should completely replace the borrowed script of Bengali from this year.? He also urged the government to provide funds for this purpose.
Following a call from this group, the local vernacular dailies have started using Meitei script in at least one story of the front page. The group has appealed to the vernacular dailies to use only Meitei script on the front page with effect from March 1.
