Need for social reforms within the Meitei community

Ritz Potshangbam *

The following article is not about the news of the conflict currently happening in Manipur, but my personal take on the need of social reforms in the Meitei community. As a youth belonging to the Meitei community, I firmly believe that the idea of Manipur revolves around the Meitei and Meitei as a community needs to revive its cultural value to safeguard the idea of Manipur. Whether you accept this or not is your opinion but every data of historical account shows that Meitei represents Manipur throughout history.

Manipur has always been the focal point of North East India when it comes to cultural diversity and rich history. However, since the outbreak of the communal conflict in Manipur between Meitei and Kuki on 3 May 2023, there has risen a serious question about the integrity of the State and the idea of Manipur.

So, let’s drive through the idea of Manipur, Manipur as a State today or as a Kingdom earlier has a history of 2000 years, it is really necessary to acknowledge what this land has gone through and evolved from various periods yet it had never lost the idea of oneness among the natives of this area.

However, this time a crack on the wall of unity has emerged, that’s why it is high time to ask what has led to the extent that one community dare to aspire to break the idea of Manipur.

Meitei being the majority community who have largely represented the State has the responsibility to safeguard the idea of Manipur. So, to carry out this responsibility Meitei needs to be united, which is the indicator of a strong community that will never compromise at any level when it comes to the State’s interest, it is only when we have unity we can bring other communities along with us else they will never respect or trust us.

We might blame other communities because of their nature or action towards us but we must also remember that they also have their interest and everyone have the right to work to achieve their interest. Regarding the current conflict, it’s necessary to look ourselves in a mirror and ask what went wrong with us that other communities dare to burn our houses just because we demand something which is legal under the Indian Constitution.

Think for a second and analyse the level of respect other communities have towards us. Today it is the Kuki that we have faced, tomorrow it can be another community if we continue to conduct ourselves as we are today. So, we need to bring social reforms in the Meitei community to make us strong and united to continue to serve the idea of Manipur which is our ancestor’s legacy.

We can’t change the fact that we overestimate ourselves and have so much trust in Government but it has failed to live up to our expectations. Now, we need to have a broad vision for the future of the State and the Meitei community which will serve us in the long term.

I consider that we as a community need to look internally and need for change in our mindset as well as social structure, so I would like to share my thoughts on what we Meitei need to realize and bring reform as a community in society to make us better for a brighter future.

1) IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IDEA OF CULTURAL UNITY NOT RELIGIOUS

The most important factor of division among Meitei is that we are divided on the grounds of religion viz. Meitei, Meitei- Hindu, Meitei-Muslim, Meitei-Christian. First of all, we need to realize the difference between religion and culture, most of us think that religion and culture are the same but it is not.

One may follow a particular religion but their cultural and ethnic identity remains the same, e.g. I might follow Hinduism but culturally or ethnically I will always be a Meitei, similarly those who follow Islam and Christianity will also remain culturally a Meitei.

One reason behind the problem we are facing right now is due to a lack of cultural unity consciousness among different communities and not recognizing their true cultural identity. Being a human we need to have a proper cultural identity that will further bind us as a community.

In this modern world, one culture cannot be isolated from others but efforts must be made to preserve the core value of our culture. So, what is necessary to bring us together is to work on our culture and strengthen the core value that link us as a community or make us an ethnic group. We should implement the mindset of prioritizing cultural value and cultural unity over religious values in every member of the Meitei community. This will at least bring the unity in our mind.

2) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CULTURAL INSTITUTION

In every religion, there is a religious institution eg Churches for Christians, Mosques for Muslims and Temples for Hindus. Likewise, we Meitei need to establish a cultural institution based on the identity of Meitei as ethnicity not on the religious identity which means Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc. all can come if you are ethnically Meitei. We need to set up such cultural institutions in every locality and organize people’s gathering at least once a week and can be run by the local club which currently exists in every locality.

Through these institutions we must teach and discuss the history of Manipur to our people, including the good and bad sides of our ancestors to learn from both mistakes and valours that they have committed, and most importantly teaching of social values such as brotherhood, discipline, the idea of we before me, cultural and moral values.

What we have learned from the current conflict between Meitei and Kuki is that we can’t 100% rely on the Government for our safety. So, we have to protect ourselves sometimes, and because of this the martial art of Thang-ta needs to be revived at the highest level possible and taught to every child both male and female through these cultural institutions to make them physically fit and able to defend themselves at the time of need.

Why I choose Thang–ta and no other martial art is because Thang-ta is our own and very much part of Meitei culture as it will help us in bringing cultural and moral values to people also. The most important problem we have is short memory and glorifying past achievements, we forgive and forget very quickly even if it might be a very important event for us and we also tend to live by glorifying the past without checking the reality of the present, here comes the importance of cultural institutions that will provide the reality check for present from time to time.

The funding for these institution should come from the people, in Sikhism there is a beautiful concept that every person will donate 10% of their income to Gurudwara so that they can provide langar (communal free kitchen in Sikh gurudwara). We must be inspired by such culture and similarly, our cultural institutions can be run or sustained through the donation from our community.

I think such an initiative to establish cultural institutions can make us physically as well as mentally prepared for any situation and can also bring unity among us in a practical way

3) REALISATION OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

In my mind, I often wonder why most people lack social responsibility even if we are social beings. This issue of lacking social responsibility is prevalent worldwide, and Meitei also face this issue to a large extent. Everyone has their role in society even if it might be big or small, we need to fulfil those roles to help in working of the society properly.

When it comes to community and talk about social responsibility we can discuss it in a very broad way but I will keep it in a very simple manner.

Like others, Meitei community also have a different class of people who work in different fields, the problem of lack of social responsibility affects the most in the community when elite class people who are rich, officers, Doctors, Engineers, Teachers and Professors who hold prominent position in social hierarchy forget their social responsibility that need to be contributed in the community.

Most of the highly educated people and elite class who are rich are becoming more and more isolated in relation with the common people in the social structure, this lack of co-operation leads to the differences among the people of the community and this is not a good sign for small community like Meitei. If someone becomes IAS, he /she must accomplish the responsibility to guide other people on how to achieve the position that he has already achieved.

Likewise, everyone who is in a position of privilege must learn to give back to society at his/her best level. We must aspire to make personal glory as social glory by helping others with our knowledge. The concept of social growth over personal growth should be taught to every young kid and go forward together as a community. To achieve all of these, we need to bring change within every household and bring up a whole new generation with a different mindset of social responsibility.

Through this article, I want to appeal to all elite-class people who remain isolated from social interaction by living comfortable life and ignoring their social responsibility just because their families are still safe or whatever reason, to think for a minute and ask yourself. Is the knowledge and education that they have earned still worth it or not ?

They need to know that their selfish motives and lack of social responsibility are the reasons why common people in the community struggle today. There is still a little time to change your mind, so become accountable for your social responsibility and make amends for your earlier mistakes.

If we succeed in ingraining the idea of social responsibility in every member of our community, we will grow to the level that we never expected as a whole community.

CONCLUSION

The bitter fact we need to accept is that many problems will come up in the near future and Meitei have to face it. That’s why, we (Meitei) as a community need the reforms I have mentioned above to become a strong community and protect the idea of Manipur. Lastly, I want to convey that a strong community doesn’t mean resorting to violence and bullying others.

Instead, it means having a say in political, economic and social aspects that can influence every institution of society and safeguard our community interest, we must also know that great power comes with great responsibility. It is high time to work on ourselves for the betterment of the future, conflict will eventually end, but the impact will be long-lasting.

Therefore, it is up to us to either learn from experience and become stronger or blame others and expose ourselves further. We must recognize that the world operates on the principle of survival of the fittest, and if we fail to protect our identity, it will be our weakness, not anyone else. Hence, we should work on our weaknesses that we got to know through this conflict and should take all the necessary steps to make it better as a community.

Only strong can bring peace, when we are strong and united, other communities in the State will have no choice but to respect us and will think thousands of times before considering touching our fort. At that point, we Meitei can become the unifying force of various communities and will able to safeguard the idea of Manipur.

Remember, there is Manipur because of Meitei, if not there will be no Manipur tomorrow.