Imphal: Manipur Police have arrested two executive members of the Manipur Students’ Association Delhi (MSAD) on Monday in New Delhi following a statement by the union strongly condemning the state government trying to impose Sanskrit as a subject in schools and colleges in the state.
In a statement issued by MSAD on December 8, the association said a MSAD executive and advisor met two Imphal police personnel in the national capital. On November 20, the students had released a statement against the state education minister’s announcement that the Sanskrit language will be introduced as a subject in schools and colleges in Manipur.
On November 30, MSAD expressed regret over the use of explicit words in the November 20 statement which may have caused hurt to a particular religious group.
The students alleged that its two members were detained at Maurice Nagar Police Station for around four hours.
At around 7 pm on Monday, MSAD general secretary Thokchom Singhajit and secretary Kennedy Moirangthem were arrested and were kept under police custody. On Tuesday, the two arrested student leaders were produced at the Patiala High Court in the national capital.
An FIR has been lodged against the MSAD executives under Section 163A, 504, 505(2) and 34 Indian Penal Code, said sources.
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As per sources, police are also on a lookout for other executive members of MSAD, including its former president Javed Medhi, to arrest in connection with the case.
On November 20, MSAD had issued a press note condemning the dominant attitude of ‘RSS-oriented government of Manipur’ by trying to impose Sanskrit as a subject in schools and colleges in the state.
“The government exposes its stupidity by trying to impose Sanskrit which is based on hatred, rime, untouchability, sexism, domination, chauvinism, as we know what the upper caste Hindu Brahmins are, “ MSAD said in a statement.
MSAD said it saw this “as an attempt to enslave the people of Manipur academically and linguistically in furthering India’s process of colonialism against Manipur”. “There are above 30 dialects spoken by the indigenous people of Manipur most of which are about to be extinct lest measures are taken up to continue their existence and imposing an alien language upon the indigenous people are completely a sign of colonisation,” it added.
Clarifying their statement, MSAD issued another press statement stating that “We regret the use of the word ‘Bastard’ and others, and sincerely are not against any particular community or religion. The statement was regarding the ideology but not to create any upheavals amongst particular individuals.” MSAD stands for a unified Manipur, it added.
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