The post Meitei Manipuris in Tripura: lost moorings and old ties appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.
By Okram Bimol
IMPHAL, March 25: The Meitei Manipuri population residing in Tripura is facing problems due to their dwindling numbers, making them a minority group in the state. In light of the other majority communities in the state, Meitei Tripuris are in a struggle of sorts for the survival of the group in terms of its identity, social and cultural status and condition.
During an interaction with visiting journalists of the All Manipur Working Journalist Union (AMWJU), Meitei Tripuris talked of how it was not an easy task for the community to make Tripura their homeland and to keep alive their own cultural heritage.
One Meitei Tripuri told the group that most of the Meitei Manipuri people in Tripura have sold out their land and other properties and shifted to other states like Assam and Manipur.
Adding that a majority of the Meitei Manipuris in Tripura are engaged as daily wage earners who take up various odd jobs like construction of houses, farm labour , auto driver etc., he further added that Manipuris in the state are included under the OBC category in Tripura.
Manipuris in Tripura are further not able to read Manipuri language properly because the language in Bengali script is taught in schools only from class 1 to 5 or 6 and because no examinations are conducted using the language. Additionally, Meitei Manipuris in Tripura speak Bengali fluently.
Many Meitei villages in Tripura are also gradually being replaced by different communities and the names of Meitei inhabited villages are changing. An example of this change can be seen in Mekhli Paar, a village not very far from Agartala which was once settled by Meiteis but which is now being occupied by Bengalis and turned into a tea state. But old ties still linger as evident from a pond called “Chandrabali Pukhri” which is reportedly named after a Meitei queen Chandrabali by the King in 1898. The pond still exists till date.
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