Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Sanamahi followers want constitutional recognition: Imphal, Dec. 26: The followers of the Sanamahi faith, the traditional religion of the Meiteis in Manipur, are set to launch a campaign demanding Scheduled Tribe status. Nearly 200 leaders of the faith assembled in Imphal East last week and resolved to launch a campaign for constitutional protection. “We will soon approach the Centre and seek ST status,” president of the Laiyingthou Sanamahi Thougal Kanglup, an organisation of the Meitei community, Oinam Menjor Khuman said. A majority of the Meiteis converted to Hinduism nearly 300 years ago following Bengali missionary Santidas Gosai’s influence on King Pamheiba. After the king declared Hinduism as the state religion, the Meities who practised the traditional Sanamahi faith were forced to convert to Hinduism. Descendants of a few families who continued to practise the faith secretly have now launched the movement for reviving the traditional Meitei religion. The number of followers ...

MPP hardens stand: Imphal, Dec 15: Manipur People’s Party (MPP) has reaffirmed its earlier stance of opposing any move to affect delimitation of the existing Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies on the basis of the contested census report of 2001 which they termed it ‘abnormal’ during a discussion session held in connection with its fortnight-long 40th foundation day on Saturday. After a serious deliberation on the issue, the discussion session held at the party office here unanimously resolved that the 2001 census report of Manipur is abnormal, and hence should be considered ‘bogus’. So any attempt to carry out delimitation based on the same bogus census report is irrational and should be opposed by all the people as it would have serious implications on the unity and integrity of the State inhabited by various ethnic groups of people. Demanding the Government of India to exclude Manipur from the purview of the Delimitation Act, the discussion session also resolved to forward its...