Imphal, Aug 08: A State level meeting was held at TG Higher Secondary School on May 2, 1978, said KYKL and added that 64 office bearers were appointed during the meeting.

The 64 office bearers were drawn from 40 different organisations and a body christened 'Kanglei Eyek Kanba Phamthou Lup" was formed with N Iboyaima as its chairman and Prof Kangjiya as the secretary.

The new organisation decided to adopt the 27 letter Meitei Mayek.

In 1979 a strong movement spearheaded by the MNF under Ch Akaba was launched to adopt Meitei Mayek, said the KYKL leader and added that the then State Government constituted the Meetei Mayek Expert Committee, Government of Manipur to study the matter.

The Chief Minister was the chairman of the committee while the then Agriculture Minister Dr Chandramani was the convenor.

Nine others were appointed as members of the committee, said the statement and added that efforts were taken up to include experts from outside Manipur.

The National Archives, New Delhi could not send any representative as it did not have any experts on Meitei Mayek, said KYKL and added that the same response was also received from the Asiatic Society, Bombay.

Representations sent to universities of South India did not elicit any response and hence the committee took up the matter without experts from outside the State.

After minutely going through the matter for nine months stretching to 24 meetings, the Expert Committee recommended the adoption of the 27 letter script.

To mark the occasion, August 6 was declared a holiday in 1979, recalled the outfit and added that on April 22, 1980, the Manipur Gazette (Extraordinary) number 33 was published which formally announced the adoption of the 27 letter script.

An order was earlier issued on April 16, 1980 by the Education Department to teach the 27 letter script in the educational institutions.

In another development, the president of the group which stood by the script known as Naoriya Mayek field a case with the Gauhati High Court to stay the order of the Government.

However on February 21, 1983, a double bench of the Gauhati High Court led by Justice TC Das rejected the appeal stating, "We do not find any merit in this application to allow the petitioner to obtain a stay order at this stage." The KYK leader said that recalling the history of the debate over Meitei Mayek does not mean that the 27 letter script is right in all aspect and maintained that the outfit is not an expert on the matter.

However the important point to note is that the debate over the Mayek is now over 48 years and added that such a debate at this juncture is unhealthy.

Those against the 27 letter script still want to prolong the debate and argument though they have nothing new to offer, said KYKL and added that they have been defeated on many occasions earlier.

Arguments for the sake of arguments cannot be encouraged, said the outfit and added that just as people have rights, they also have responsibilities.

The 27 letter script is also handy and the manner in which it is read as Kok, Sam Lai..

is unique which is not followed in any other country.

It is also a matter of pride that the people of Manipur have their own numerals, said KYKL and added that the hard fought victory for the revival of the script should not be wasted through arguments and needless debates.

The time now is for the Mayek to take firm roots said KYKL and added that those who are opposed to the 27 letter script should keep in mind the fact that if the current opportunity is lost then it may take another one hundred years to re-introduce the indigenous script.

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