Imphal, April 16: Stating that no individual or group will be forced to learn Meetei Mayek, DESAM has today appealed to all sections of the society and particularly the students bodies to not only discuss on the losses incurred due to burning down of the State Central Library but also to deliberate on the root cause which had led the Mayek activist to take such an extreme step.

In a statement, DESAM gen secretary PC Newton said that the majority community would never hurt the sentiments or feelings of the minority communities while agitating for the implementation of Meetei Mayek in the State and further said that the Govt should not try to mislead the people by wrongly interpreting ongoing agitation.

Except for only those willing to learn Meetei Mayek, no individual or group will be forced to learn Meetei Mayek after its implementation in the State, said Newton adding that MIL textbooks will be allowed to be printed either in Roman scripts or any other script the authorities prefer.

He however added books written in Bengali script would be transcribed phase by phase and taught to the students in a phase wise manner.

He also opined that the people have been able to find out that Meeteilon had been the only language that helped the people from the valley and hill to communicate in the ancient past and writings found at the Khoibu Hills of Chandel, Hundung, Thibomei at Kohima and Hills in Mizoram have proved it.

Asserting the division among the valley and hill people have come only after the influx of Sanskrit culture in the State, Newton said that it would be very inappropriate to take a concrete decision on the matter based on the history of the recent past.

Referring to the history of Meetei Mayek, he said that books narrating the history of the valley and the hill people had already been printed in Meetei Mayek and published in 1616 and the ancient Puyas have also provided authenticity to the presence of these books.

The developed nations have been able to make significant progress in different fields due to the presence of a common language and script to communicate their ideas, said Newton adding that it is the duty of the people to preserve and promote its indigenous script if the people wants progress and development to come to the State.

He also stated that it would very wrong on the part of any individual or group to use the ongoing agitation for personnel gains.

Stating that the present movement launched by the Meetei Mayek activists is not in any way similar to the Assamese chauvinism which led to the disintegration of Assam, Newton said that it would be wrong to pass judgement on the current without actually studying the causes of the movement.

He also urged the people to come forward and join the ongoing movement instead passing judgements on the actions of the Mayek activists.

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