Imphal, Nov. 17: Okram Ibobi Singh?s joy has been shortlived. Having talked the Kukis out of a blockade and stymied an employees? strike, the Manipur chief minister now faces a Naga ban on Meitei Mayek script.
The All Naga Students Association of Manipur (Ansam) has rejected the implementation of the script on Naga students, warning against any attempt to impose it on the community.
The Ibobi Singh government decided to replace the Bengali script with Meitei from the next academic session in Classes I and II. It took the decision following mounting pressure from a pro-Meitei script organisation in April this year. Manipuris have been using the Bengali script for the past several decades.
The Meitei Erol Eyek Loinasillon Apunba Lup, demanding the replacement of the Bengali script with the local one, launched a violent campaign during which the state?s oldest library and railway reservation counter, both in Imphal, were torched.
Meitei script belongs to the majority community. Considering the sensitivity of the matter, the government prescribed the Roman script for students belonging to the tribal communities.
?Naga students resolved to oppose any form of imposition on the will of the Naga people,? said Soni Khapa, publicity secretary of Ansam.
The student leader was reacting to the announcement of schedules for training programmes for teachers in all the government schools across the state on Meitei script. The government has no plans to recruit teachers to teach the new script. Orientation programmes for the teachers have also been planned.
?The initiative of the government of Manipur and the notification issued in the local dailies by the directorate of school education to conduct training programmes of Meitei/Roman scripts across the state, including the Naga areas, is viewed by Ansam as a challenge to the Naga people,? the publicity secretary said.
He said the Nagas were strongly opposed to imposition of Meitei/Roman script on Naga students and the objection was clearly stated in two memoranda submitted to governor S.S. Sidhu and the chief minister in April this year.
The Naga students felt that the move to introduce the local script was an ?insult? and an attempt ?to provoke? the Nagas. So, training programmes on the script would not be allowed in Naga areas, he said.
The student body appealed to heads of schools of both government and private institutions not to organise or attend the training programmes in Naga-dominated areas.
Officials in the education department declined to react to the Naga students? stand. ?I don?t want to react to this. The matter will be discussed at the government level. We are merely implementing the government?s decision,? an official in the department said.