Respect sanctity of Khurai Ahongpung call issued
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 20 2023: The Maichou Ningshing Lup (MNL) and Lairembi Sintha Lup (LSL) have appealed to the Teli people to respect the sanctity of Khurai Ahongpung which has been declared as an archeological site by the State Government and refrain from distorting the history of Manipur.

Addressing the media at Khurai today, MNL secretary Ahanthem Irabot said that the volunteers of Meitei Leepun have been cleaning the Khurai Ahongpung areas regularly as the site is closely associated with the history of Manipur.

Saying that the volunteers of Meitei Leepun witnessed garbage and construction material piled up in front of the sacred site on December 16 and later asked the people residing nearby to clear it, Irabot claimed that some news channels/agencies and social media pages, however, depicted the development as an animosity between Hindus and followers of Meetei faith.

Continuing that Meitei Leepun has been working to promote Meitei culture since its establishment and regularly prays at Khurai Ahongpung, Irabot said that some section of people giving religious colour to what happened at Khurai Ahongpung on December 16 was unfortunate.

He said that the volunteers of Meitei Leepun were frustrated on seeing many vehicles being parked in front of the site sacred to Meiteis apart from piling garbage and construction material so they asked the Teli people living nearby to clear them.

Saying that the Teli people should respect the site sacred to Meiteis in a similar way they respect the deities they (the Teli people) worship, Irabot maintained that they are already finding it hard to hold religious programmes at Khurai Ahongpung due to the limitation of space and parking vehicles and piling objects in front of the site make it worse.

Irabot further said that they earlier lodged a complaint to Imphal East DC and SP to not allow parking and piling of material in front of Khurai Ahongpung.

Continuing that Teli people started settling at Khurai Ahongpung areas from 1924 onwards, Irabot claimed that the Mahadev Temple in the area has been wrongly depicted as being set up in 1872 .

Irabot further claimed that the Teli people couldn't produce the paper work of the construction of the Temple, while appealing to all concerned to not distort the history of Manipur for their convenience.

Advisor to LSL RK Dhanabati, on the other hand, urged the Government to take up extra measures to safeguard Khurai Ahongpung.

She also said that they are not against Teli people worshipping their deities but should not cause any forms of obstruction to the Meiteis in worshipping theirs.

Comment