Imphal, March 01: Endorsing the cause of Meetei Mayek, Democratic Students� Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) has announced its decision to join hands with the agitating activists of Meetei Eyek Erol Loinasillon Apunba Lup (MEELAL) from March 11 if the Government does not come out with a definite decision on the issue and start taking up necessary measures within March 10.Announcing the decision in a statement made available to the press today, DESAM president Jutin Yumnamcha said it would be sensible on the part of the State Government to resolve the issue before it turns ugly.

The student leader said that the State Government and the elected representatives should not take the ongoing agitation for replacement of Manipuri text books written in Bengali script with Meetei Mayek lightly.

It is an important issue that concerns the interest of the whole society, he added.

Denouncing the attitude of the elected representative, DESAM said instead of instigating innocent students and setting them against the Mayek activists, the elected representatives should do away with their deceit and stop harping on the appropriateness or inappropriateness of introducing Meetei Mayek.

Numerous agitations like general strike, bandh, blockade, etc, that have been called for the cause of promotion of Meetei mayek, should not be forgotten.

Now is the opportune time for them to realise their own mistake in having neglected their own script for so long, DESAM said, warning against giving any sort of disturbance towards promotion of Meetei Mayek.

The agitation being spearheaded by MEELAL should not be viewed as that of MEELAL alone, it said, adding that it is for all the people of Manipur who are duty bound to protect and safeguard their own identity, culture and script.

While appreciating the role of print and electronic media in highlighting the issue, DESAM however, maintained that burning of Bengali script text books as part of the ongoing agitation should not evoke so much negative response and the argument over how many people could actually read and write Meetei Mayek is unfortunate.

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