Note the desecration of Laiphams too It is not only Churches
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The issue is extraordinary and extraordinary times call for out of the box thinking. This is ideally the way to approach the situation in Manipur, especially after the place went up in flames on May 3, 2023. Over 220 people have lost their lives and thousands have been rendered homeless not to speak about the homes destroyed and levelled to the ground and even as Manipur has trudged from one disaster to the other in the last 14 months or so, what has been consistently sought to be sold to the outside world is the blatant attempt to give a religious tinge to the ongoing clash. The hand at work to give it a religious colour and its reach should be clear to all, best exemplified by the manner in which the burning and desecration of Churches made it to the floor of the European Parliament during the earlier days of the ongoing clash. That this backfired in the sense that it did not go down well at all with Delhi is nothing but a logical fallout of how false narratives will serve no purpose. The strategy to play the religious card and seek the sympathy of the western world by painting the ongoing clash as one between the minority Christians and majority Hindus is clear. Go back to May 3, 2023 and a few days earlier to get a better grip of the reality, is the line that The Sangai Express would like to maintain and it does not need rocket science technology to understand this. The world and the Left leaning so called mainstream media have taken note of the number of Churches attacked and destroyed during the ongoing clash, but why is it that none of them have had the sincerity and honesty to point out that a good number of ancestral places of worship of the Meiteis too have been reduced to rubbles ? This is not an attempt to retell a story that has already been told and which has been commented upon but when some quarters seem intent on telling only one side of the story then a small recap of the reality will be in line. It was in the earlier days of the clash that the Umang Lai Kanba Apunba Lup (UKAL), after days of intensive facts gathering, furnished the report that at least 393 places of worship of the Meities were desecrated and destroyed. Unprepared as the Meiteis were, the figure of 393 places of worship desecrated was made public after more than 90 days of the clash erupting and The Sangai Express was at the forefront in urging all concerned that this figure be worked out, especially in the face of the blatant attempt to portray the clash as one along religious line. The Meitei places of worship which were vandalised, desecrated and destroyed included 44 sites dedicated to Umang Lai inclusive of 3 in Tengnoupal, 11 in Churachandpur, 4 in Kakching, 3 in Imphal East, 10 in Kangpokpi, 6 in Bishnupur and 7 in Imphal West.
Other religious sites of the Meiteis destroyed included 88 dedicated to Apokpa Laipham, the ancestral deity of the Meiteis, at Tengnoupal (15), Churachandpur (38), Kakching (23), Imphal East (9) and Kangpokpi (3). UKAL also listed 223 Hingkhol Lai (homestead deity) shrines which were desecrated at Kakching (41), Churachandpur (72), Bishnupur (20), Tengnoupal (43), Imphal East (30), Imphal West (4) and Kangpokpi (13). Moreover 16 Temples dedicated to Hindu Gods and Goddesses were also desecrated. All figures which have been published and commented on by The Sangai Express in this very column and while destruction of any religious place is unacceptable what makes the matter all that more hard to digest is when a blind eye is turned to one side and only one side of the story is emphasised. This is what is tough to digest. This is where the stand taken by the NSCN (IM) is a bit disturbing even though one understands the sense of anguish the outfit may have felt with the number of Churches that have been desecrated and vandalised. ‘Nagalim of Christ’ is the slogan of the Naga armed outfit, and while their anguish is understandable, it would have been so much more acceptable and sounded more universal if their appeal had also extended to the Kuki militants not to target the religious sites of the Meiteis. Cautiously following the day to day development ever since the ethnic conflict started, is the line maintained by the NSCN (IM) and one just wished that it had struck a universally acceptable neutral stand and come out against the desecration of all religious places and not noted only the destruction of Churches. For the record the Manipur Baptist Convention Church continues to stand tall to this day and so too does the Tangkhul Baptist Church. All indications that the destruction of Churches was not an attack on a place of worship but marked by ethnic affiliations.
Other religious sites of the Meiteis destroyed included 88 dedicated to Apokpa Laipham, the ancestral deity of the Meiteis, at Tengnoupal (15), Churachandpur (38), Kakching (23), Imphal East (9) and Kangpokpi (3). UKAL also listed 223 Hingkhol Lai (homestead deity) shrines which were desecrated at Kakching (41), Churachandpur (72), Bishnupur (20), Tengnoupal (43), Imphal East (30), Imphal West (4) and Kangpokpi (13). Moreover 16 Temples dedicated to Hindu Gods and Goddesses were also desecrated. All figures which have been published and commented on by The Sangai Express in this very column and while destruction of any religious place is unacceptable what makes the matter all that more hard to digest is when a blind eye is turned to one side and only one side of the story is emphasised. This is what is tough to digest. This is where the stand taken by the NSCN (IM) is a bit disturbing even though one understands the sense of anguish the outfit may have felt with the number of Churches that have been desecrated and vandalised. ‘Nagalim of Christ’ is the slogan of the Naga armed outfit, and while their anguish is understandable, it would have been so much more acceptable and sounded more universal if their appeal had also extended to the Kuki militants not to target the religious sites of the Meiteis. Cautiously following the day to day development ever since the ethnic conflict started, is the line maintained by the NSCN (IM) and one just wished that it had struck a universally acceptable neutral stand and come out against the desecration of all religious places and not noted only the destruction of Churches. For the record the Manipur Baptist Convention Church continues to stand tall to this day and so too does the Tangkhul Baptist Church. All indications that the destruction of Churches was not an attack on a place of worship but marked by ethnic affiliations.