Not surprisingly the All Manipur Football Association also cried foul and even threatened to drag the paper to the Court. To protest the highly provocative reports, AMFA had even called for a boycott of the newspaper with some organizations even joining in and calling for a ban of The Times of India in Manipur. 

However despite the unsavory reports, The Times of India has scored a few points by deputing a team here led by its Resident Editor (Kolkata edition), Sujay Gupta, who did not hesitate in issuing an apology to the people of Manipur on behalf of the paper. Prior to this, the team also met the Chief Minister along with some representatives from voluntary organizations, where the Chief Minister minced no words in tearing apart the attitude of mainland India, particularly New Delhi towards Manipur. 

It was fine that the Chief Minister had the opportunity to release some steam against the Center, but what is noteworthy is the apology tendered by The Times of India. Now it is no longer a question of how ethical or how technically correct or wrong the reports filed by their correspondent were but the fact that the paper has deemed it fit to admit to the short comings.

It takes a brave and upright man to publicly admit to his shortcomings and apologies to the people and yes The Times of India has shown itself in a very good light. As we have said, we were one of the first papers in the State to lodge our protest against the reports that appeared in The Times of India and today we will not hesitate to say that the status of the paper has grown, at least in our eyes. 

This is not a question of saying, look I told you so... Rather it is a question of character, the guts to admit if one has gone wrong or inadvertently hurt the sentiments of other people. It takes guts for a paper to admit that its report may have hurt the sentiments of the people and The Times of India has done just that and for that we cannot help but admire their character and integrity. 

The All Manipur Football Association also reacted positively by immediately calling off the boycott call of the newspaper and it is this spirit of give and take that is encouraging. A gentleman's gesture need to be reciprocated similarly and AMFA has done just that. 

However amidst this new development what we found disturbing was the decision taken by some organizations to ban the sale and distribution of the paper in Manipur. Such decisions not only exposed immature traits but also showed that some people are prone to be driven by sentiments and this is not in good taste.

(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)