A number of Meitei Mayek activists under the banner of MEELAL seem bent on going ahead with the agitation despite the reservations expressed from different quarters over their book burning spree and what is more, the activists have set March 1 as the deadline for all Manipuri language newspapers to start publishing the first page of the paper in Meitei Mayek. No one will dispute the fact that it is a shame that the people of Manipur still have to depend on an imported script, when they have their own indigenous script, but it should be realized that championing the revival of a forgotten script is far removed from taking an impractical stand and this is where the Meitei Mayek activists have to tread their path cautiously.
The ground reality should not be lost on anyone while pursuing a cause, however justified it is, and this applies to the Mayek adherents too. As MEELAL has itself admitted, Meitei Mayek was given the grand burial during the reign of Maharaj Pamheiba who ruled from 1709 to 1748 and ever since then Bengali script has been in use. This in effect means a number of generations have passed by who did not know or learn Meitei Mayek.
Majority of our grand parents definitely did not know Meitei Mayek and so did our parents. Majority of the present generation still do not have any knowledge about our own script and ditto too for our children. This is the harsh reality and in as much as there is the pressing need to revive Meitei Mayek, it will do good for all, especially the activists, to keep this in mind and this is all that more important now that MEELAL has asked all editors to start bringing out the first page of the newspapers in Meitei Mayek from March 1.
The main objective of newspapers is to disseminate information to the largest audience possible and suddenly replacing Bengali script with Meitei Mayek will defeat this purpose. Moreover we also have to keep in mind the fact that the Manipuri language written in Bengali script is the lingua franca of the Meitei people settled in other parts of the North East States and even in neighboring countries like Bangladesh. It is also true that many elderly people of the hill districts have a good knowledge of the Manipuri language written in Bengali script and the newspapers published in this script is serving as their window to the world.
Our stand on the matter is clear. We have to be realistic while pursuing our demands. The Bengali script has been in use for over two hundred years and it will amount to cutting off our own nose to spite the face, if we expect an overnight change and expect the newspapers too to fall in line and deprive the readers of their right to information. It will be a much more practical process to initiate the change step by step. What has been in use for over two hundred years cannot be possibly changed overnight and this fact should not be lost on anyone. By all means, the Government should introduce Meitei Mayek from the primary level and then gradually upgrade it to the higher level. It is by such a process that we can produce a generation who are well versed in the script and to achieve this will take time and patience.
We agree that the State Government should not be spared for sleeping over the matter for over 27 years, even after the Assembly passed the resolution to introduce the script in 1979. It is this point that we find extremely galling. What were all the successive Governments doing all these long, long years? This is a question that the Okram Ibobi Singh led Government should be pondering over instead of merely appealing to the Mayek activists to refrain from burning the Bengali script text books.
In as much as we would like all to understand the ground reality, the Government too should be pulled up for neglecting the issue all these years. Remember Mayek activists did not suddenly take to the streets to press home their demands but have been voicing their stand for long. The frustration that the champions of Meitei Mayek must have felt over the seeming indifference of the Government can be understood. Ultimately let good sense prevail, let there be a sincere attempt to revive Meitei Mayek, but let's go about it realistically.
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