Imphal, March 8: The skirmishes between two groups supporting different sets of scripts for the Meitei language have dented the law and order situation in the Manipur capital.
Renowned Manipuri scholar, Padmashree Ningthoukhongjam Khelchandra Singh, continued to be the target of the raging controversy over the use of Meitei script on the damaged foundation stone of Bir Tikendrajit flyover in the heart of Imphal.
Protesters supporting the 27-character Meitei script today burnt an effigy of Khelchandra Singh at Tera in Imphal West. They were protesting over the scholar’s threat to sue the government if the 27-character script was used in the foundation stone of the flyover.
The protesters destroyed the foundation stone for the Rs 25-crore flyover because the 36-alphabet Meitei script was used on it. It was at the “behest” of Khelchandra that the government has used the 36-character script, they said.
Khelchandra Singh, unfazed by the verbal attacks, described the destruction of the foundation stone as an act of terrorism.
This was the third time the scholar’s effigy has been burnt over the past few days even as chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh was trying hard to find an amicable solution to the script controversy.
The municipal administration, housing and urban development minister, L. Nandakumar Singh, is also facing an ouster campaign by the protestors.
Reacting to Khelchandra’s claim that the 36-character script was the correct one, the rival group said he was not among the 13-member expert committee, which was constituted by the government on November 16, 1978. The Manipur government has given recognition to the 27-character script.
A training centre of the 36-character script was targeted late last night in Imphal East. Supporters of the rival group tried to torch the building at Khurai Konsam Leikai, though alert neighbours foiled their attempt, sources said.
The Imphal fast track court will hear the petition against the government’s recognition to the 27-alphabet script on April 5. The case filed in 1997 in the court of civil judge, senior division, Manipur East, was transferred to the fast track court in May last year.
The petitioner has claimed that the 27-letter script was not original and requested a decree on granting recognition to the 36-character script.