Palace take over plan : Opponents fall back of Art IV of Merger Agreement
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 18 2013: Citing Article IV of the Manipur Merger Agreement 1949 which listed the royal palace as a private property of the king whereby the king is exempted from paying land tax to the Government, many people have been questioning the authority of the Government to take over the royal palace and surrounding areas which do not belong to it.

Saying that the royal palace has been hosting more than 40 religious and cultural events and rituals annually, they denounced the Government's initiative to develop the royal palace under the Historical Monument Act which according to them would only turn a living institution into a dead monument.

Article IV of the Manipur Merger Agreement signed between the Government of India and Maharaja Bodhchandra on September 21, 1949 has a clause which says that the royal palace and its plot belong to the king and they should be kept distinct from the State property.

The present royal palace also known as Chongabon was constructed in 1904 at a site then known as Guru Lampak.

Churachand Maharaj was the first king to take up his residence at the Chongabon.

A meeting underway at the palace

In the aftermath of the Manipur Merger Agreement of 1949, the Manipuri king ceded all his political and administrative powers to the Government of India.

Yet, the king was allowed to retain his authority over socio-religious practices and annual palace events.

The royal palace is also the supreme authority over all Umang Lais (sylvan deities) spread across Manipur.

In addition, a number of traditional institutions have been functioning under the royal palace, they said.

The Government's plan to take over the royal palace which has been hosting many important national events and social-cultural practices sounds unpalatable, said the royal palace's Maibahanba Shamjetshabam Kondumba.

Keeping away the king from the royal palace and reducing the king to such a humiliating status where he needs to seek permission from the Government to enter the royal palace for hosting important events of the Nation which have been going for ages is simply unacceptable, he added.

Once the royal palace is taken over by the Government, all the institutions currently functioning under the royal palace would eventually die and this would give a serious blow to the identity of Manipuris.

The royal palace cannot be what it was and is, if the king is kept away.

Again, Article III of the Merger Agreement entitled the king a sum of Rs three lakhs annually in the form of privy purse for maintaining the royal palace and organising important annual socio-cultural and religious functions, they asserted.

But the king's annual entitlement was cancelled by the State Government since 1972.Moreover, the Government has stopped paying pension to the king, they added.

Meanwhile, the Sana Konung Shemgat Lup and the Khwai Inat Lup Kangleipak staged a protest demonstration at the royal palace denouncing the Government's initiative to take over and develop the royal palace under the Historical Monument Act.

The protesters urged the Government to develop Kangla, Langthabal and Lamangdong where Manipuri kings had once their palaces instead of Chongabon which is currently occupied by the titular king.