Congress questions Govt's silence on "Palace Compound" incident

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Oct 26 : Spokesperson of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), Ningombam Bupenda has categorically stated that a bid to install shrine/temple of a particular religion in place of another implies violation of 'Freedom of Religion'.
Speaking to media persons here at Congress Bhawan, Bupenda reacted strongly to the recent commotion at Palace Compound and questioned why the Chief Minister is remaining silent.
Questioning Government's laxity in initiating action against those involved in hurling abusive words, Bupenda also asked whether the Government is trying to protect them.
The very move to instal a shrine of a particular religious section by desecrating other's religious shrine was nothing secular in nature, he said.
India is a diverse country with more than 1.2 billion people following different religions, speaking different languages and having unique cultures and so is Manipur. Manipur is even touted as 'Mini India', he said and added that  the "One Nation, One Language, One Religion" theory as propounded by the BJP and RSS will never be practicable.
Maintaining that the Congress party respects all communities and the religion they follow, the Congress spokesperson said that the party will not tolerate any act of disregard to any of the community or people belonging to a particular religion.
Congress party will never endorse the idea of bringing up a new shrine/ temple of a religious section by desecrating existing three shrines/temples related to Sanamahi religion, he said.
The bid to build a new shrine/temple is an act to suppress the Sanamahi religion which is more than 3 thousand years old, he said.
Bupenda went on to question under which project the said development work at Palace Compound is being taken up and under which Act the Government is meddling up with religious matters.