In retrospect political affairs of manipur from 1946 1952 - dr im singh

12/16/2017 IN RETROSPECT POLITICAL AFFAIRS OF MANIPUR FROM 1946-1952 - DR IM SINGH
http://www.drimsingh.co.uk/2011/08/01/in-retrospect-political-affairs-of-manipur-from-1946-1952/ 1/12
DR IM SINGH
BSc, MBBS, MD, MRCGP (Lond), FRSH (Lond)
IN RETROSPECT POLITICAL AFFAIRS
OF MANIPUR FROM 1946-1952
Posted on August 1, 2011, By admin
U Nu of Burma invited by J Nehru to
Imphal to gift away Manipur’s Kabaw
Valley in 1953
When I was asked by K Sushila, Deputy Director of Manipur State Archives, Imphal to write
an article on the above subject, my mind wandered back to my childhood. Where my mind
wanders my intellectual curiosity compensates.
The halcyon days of my childhood were just plain fun. Contradictions do arise when I try to
remember the details of a far-away time. The good thing about ageing is that the distant
memory of my young days still lingers in my reminiscence.
I am writing this bit of history by avoiding scientist-style writing in passive voice. Thus I insert
myself into my recollection and conclusion to lend a sense of subjectivity.
I recall the day when Jawaharlal Nehru humoured the Manipuris by describing Manipur as
the “Jewel of India” to divert a ention from what he was about to do which was to hand over
the Kabaw valley to U Nu of Burma at the Polo Ground in Imphal in 1953. I was there having
come back from college in Bombay. I met Nehru in Darjeeling and Delhi. I found him quite
short-tempered.
Nehru hardly knew Manipur. He once tried to come there just before 1947, but was refused
entry as he did not have an “entry permit”. He had to go back to Delhi from Dimapur. During
the British time any non-Manipuri who wanted to come to Manipur had to have a permit. It
was a small piece of paper but I do not know who issued it.
Search for:
Search
We welcome feedback
Recent Posts
The Sangai Express
THE NUMBERS GAME OF MEITEI ST
DEMAND TURNING INTO A PUBLIC
OUTCRY
A DEEP FROZEN 14-YEAR-OLD DEAD
GIRL TO COME TO LIFE IN 200
YEARS’ TIME
THE CAUSALITY OF TIE WITH SUIT
IN MODERN FASHION
HOW TO KEEP A YOUNG HEAD ON
OLD SHOULDERS
Archives
Archives Select Month
Categories
Animals
Astronomy
Biology
Geology
History
Human Body
Manipur
Meitei
Philosophy
Physics
Politics
Religion
Home About My Books » Buy Book Gallery Testimonials Contact

The entry point to Manipur was at the railhead at Manipur Road Station at Dimapur, Assam,
where a passenger had to catch a bus to Imphal. The permit system was still operational after
Independence. When I returned home from college in 1953 by air from Calcu a, a police
officer I knew, from Nagamapal, was checking a mayang for his permit at Koirengei airport.
Nehru’s first visit after independence on October 23, 1952 was for one day when the Loktak
electric project was initiated. During his second visit on 29-30 March 1953, to hand over the
Kabaw valley to U Nu, he empowered the state government to establish the present Jawaharlal
Nehru Dance Academy.
In the biography of Jawaharlal he is rightly accused by Manipuris of giving away our Kabaw
valley, about the size of Manipur, without consulting the people of Manipur. On the other
hand, we should be grateful to him for keeping Manipur intact against the advice of fellow
politicians who wanted Manipur integrated into Assam.
But this is not a ‘full balance equation’ of what he did or did not do for Manipur. This is not an
equilibrium distribution. The Kabaw valley rightfully belonged to Manipur through the blood,
sweat and tears of our ancestors. The time has come for Manipuris to petition New Delhi to
restore it to its rightful owners, knowing full well that Nehru in his euphoria with newly
independent India gifted it away to U Nu of Burma.
The question that is always at the back of my mind is why didn’t U Nu present Jawaharlal
with ‘no further claim’ to the Kabaw valley, after he came all the way to Manipur to meet him?
He should have been the one who brought a present to India.
Five years earlier, I remember Maharaja Bodhchandra, before he became a Constitutional head
of the state of Manipur, giving an emotional speech using a loud speaker from the old
Telegraph Office.
I went to listen though I did not understand politics. But I still remember his jibe at Sougaijam
Somarendro, the ex-Durbar member who became the President of Manipur State Congress –
“ngarangda tai pulamba toktuna…” (…only yesterday he was wearing a tie but today…)
Those were exciting days when as a young schoolboy I went to a end many meetings of the
Manipur Students’ Congress at the Aryan Theatre Hall. I hark back to a lecture given by my
friend Salam Rajdhon (Ex-Chairman Imphal Municipality) who was a college student in
Calcu a, though I cannot remember the detail. He was distinguished that day by wearing a
dhoti and kurta while everybody else wore long trousers and shirts.
I think back to a speech made by a young Mohammad Alimuddin to a small crowd including
MK Priyobrata on the lawn of Major Khating’s bungalow with a small ornamental pond,
which originally belonged to Mr Jeffrey, the British State Engineer.
I went whenever such an event occurred, partly because I was inquisitive and partly because I
had convenient transport. My father bought me a boy’s bicycle known as “baish”, meaning 22
inches tall (the adult one was 24 inches). Not many boys had such a bicycle. I also lived within
short walking distance of the Aryan Theatre and Khwairamband Bazaar.
Before I bite off more than I can chew, I apologise to all Manipuri historians whose scholarly
austerity is unbending, for any shortcomings in this article, which is partly based on my
experience and partly on the monographs by a multitude of authors.
It is not necessary to cite a source if the information one provides is common knowledge. This
no plagiarism guarantee helps me to write this article as I enumerate my memories of that
interim period when I was just mature enough to remember most of the political scenes as they
stood at that time. After all, history depends on who is writing.
Spirituality
Technology
Uncategorized

World War II may have ended in 1945 – May 8 for Europe and August 15 for Asia, but the
prologue to Manipur’s political conflict had just begun. I will call this era from 1946 to 1952 my
“interim age” and I am going to examine what happened during this period in Manipur’s
political wilderness.
One of the primary causes of human conflict is egoism as most people are more interested in
their own welfare than that of other people, as is the case amongst the egoistic Meiteis. Every
Meitei is egoistic and a Brutus at heart, who cannot see another Meitei on the higher rung of
the social ladder.
Conflicts are also possible where there is no element of egoism. Some non-egoistic desires are
frequently involved in social conflicts, which often become political, as in the case of Hijam
Irabot.
In 1945 I went to a middle school at Moirangkhom. RK Dorendra (the ex-Chief Minister of
Manipur) and Dr E Kuladhaja (ex-Principal of RIMS) were my class fellows. I finished my
schooling in 1952. This is my ‘interim period’ before I left Imphal for university in different
parts of India.
Writing a short historical account is difficult. Without detail, it becomes jejune and
uninteresting; with detail it is liable to fall into a pa ern of monotony.
The post War period in Manipur was a Renaissance for the Meiteis who were politically very
naïve and who had previously no room for exercise in the political playing fields because of
a lack of education and because the Meiteis were not subject to the stark servitude that was felt
everywhere in the rest of British India.
World War II reminded the Manipuris, especially the Meiteis, of their diminished place in the
world. Many Meiteis and a few tribal intellectuals began to accommodate modern politics in
the immediate Post War period.
Though this is a brief history I am writing there is a precise relevance that I begin it with a
short account of two politicians: one on the left and the other on the right. They are Hijam
Irabot Singh and Laita Madhov Sharma respectively. They were the pioneers of modern
Manipuri politics as I knew them.
When World War II ended in 1945, a social and cultural change came over Manipur as a result
of meeting a variety of people from all over the world. There began a political dawn and the
rooting of a modern civilisation.
Manipuris saw for the first time face to face a Negro, or an American or Japanese, from far
away continents. The flamboyant, well dressed and easy-going GIs impressed the young
Manipuris, including myself. Many of us a empted to dress and behave like them, even
speaking English with a nasal accent.
The change was inevitable – a natural evolution of Manipuris from a primitive to a nascent
civilisation. Watching Hollywood and Hindi movies put us in touch with what was going on
in the rest of the world.
Advancement of civilisation brings about a change in culture. With the budding civilisation in
Manipur a modern culture sneaked in and along with it, a blossoming political philosophy,
opposite to the Chinese political philosophy which developed as a response to social and
political breakdown in the 6 century BCE.
Like Karl Marx who is thought of as the man who claimed to have made socialism scientific,
Irabot brought scientific socialistic ideas to Manipur long before 1946, in opposition to the
feudalistic rule of Maharaja Churachand, and religious prosecution of the Brahma Sabha in
collusion with Churachand when his control over the state revenue was taken over by the
British administration.
th

Over the years, I knew all the Chief Ministers of Manipur apart from the incumbent Okram
Ibobi Singh, beginning with Mairembam alias ‘Moirang’ Koireng in 1963. Three of them – RK
Doredra Singh, RK Ranabir Singh and RK Joychandra Singh – were my contemporaries.
I had acquaintances with Moirang Koireng and MK Priyobrata when I became a doctor.
Priyobrata was such a fascinating man, a true and debonair prince. Many years ago,
accompanied by my friends, Kh Dhirendra from Kongba and N Nishikanta from
Moirangkhom, I went to see him at his home when he was in his 80’s to donate some money
towards the erection of a memorial stone at the Khongjom War site.
I knew of all the politicians of this era and I knew a few, such as RK Maipaksana who was my
private tutor in his young days; Sagolsem Indramani, Lalita Madhov, L Jogeswar and Salam
alias “Chakri” Tombi, N Binoy, Ng Mohindro and Th Bira.
I heard of Hijam Irabot during my school days but I only saw him once at the Aryan Theatre
Hall. He was much talked about with affection during our childhood because of his patriotism,
love of peasants and for relinquishing the comforts of life by resigning from being a Member
of Sadar Panchayat in 1939.
L Joychandra of the Prajatantra was a good friend of mine and M Gojendra. We sat many a
time in his office at Uripok, talking about all sorts including current politics. Later on he paid
me two visits in the UK. The Prajatantra Daily was the mouthpiece of the Congress
Government.
My eldest sister Salam ongbi Binodini Devi told me a few years ago how Irabot used to go to
villages to help villagers revolt about the land ownership and the price of paddy. He and his
friends used to help cremate dead bodies whose families were declared “mangba”
(untouchable) and so nobody would come to help for fear of being declared untouchables
themselves.
My father Gulamjat Singh was once declared “mangba” by the Brahma Sabha under the
patronage of Atombapu Sharma, simply because he used to patronise a poor Sanskrit-
educated Brahmin in our neighbourhood – who was a “konok” – regarded as a sort of “inferior
Brahmin” by the Brahmins themselves. My elder sister Pishak explained to me recently:
She said these ‘konok’ were like Borachaoba of Mainupemcha tragedy – a real tale of two star-
crossed lovers – immortalised by the old song, Meitei chanu mamomloi, Mainupemcha
shakhenbi… which in English is:- The only Meitei damsel, breathtakingly beautiful
Mainupemcha.
This Brahmin known as Aigya Nilamani used to come to our house one Sunday evening of
every month and ritually read Srimad Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit and translate it in Manipuri
to my father. Jealousy is a natural emotion. Atombapu, a highly educated ancient Brahmin,
had a vision of a Sanskritised Manipur but it was only a mirage.
A man sent by the Brahma Sabha, like the “town crier” of ancient illiterate England, came
walking along the Uripok Road, beating a drum and announcing that Irengbam Gulamjat was
from that day declared “mangba”. That was the notice to everybody to excommunicate my
father in the Roman Catholic style.
As ill luck would have it, death occurred to a younger brother of mine, Leihao who was 2yrs
and 8 months old. Nobody dared to come to help with the cremation of the child. My father,
who was a man of principle, refused to pay the fees for ‘shengdokpa’ (purification). He was
prepared to cremate his son himself.
My father, a British employee, was a state electric engineer and was well known to the
President of Manipur State Durbar (PMSD) at that time. He was prevailed upon by the PMSD
to get himself ‘purified’ by paying a token of Rupees 80 to the Brahma Sabha while the fee of
Rupees 500 for Maharaja Churachand was waived.

All that fuss was for a simple ritual of sprinkling a few drops of ‘holy water’ which was pond
water with leaves of a Tulsiplant in it that has been in a temple, then openly declaring that he
was ‘purified’.
Lamyanba Irabot was born to a poor family on September 30 1896. He became a politician with
socialistic ideals to improve the lot of the poor people of Manipur.His communism was tinged
with basic Manipuri patriotism.
He was a charismatic figure and the most radical politician who ever existed in Manipur. He
was a gifted person with political philosophy in his sinews. Not only was he a reformist but a
good sportsman, a prose writer, poet and artist and ultimately a revolutionary. He was the
father of the modern Meitei insurgencies.
Irabot was arrested on January 9 1940 for an inflammatory speech he made at the Police Lines
when Nupilal II (Women’s War II) broke out. He was tried by the Manipur State Durbar on
March 21 1940 and sentenced to three years imprisonment. After some time in Imphal jail he
was sent to the Sylhet District Jail (1942-43) where he was inducted to communism by fellow
communist inmates.
Irabot returned to Manipur in March 1946 when the Manipur State Council lifted the ban on
his entry. His arrival signalled the beginning of a shaky new era for Manipuri politics. He
immediately began to organise a new party called the Manipur Praja Mandal (MPM) in April
1946.
During 1947-9 there was a great political consciousness among the Manipuri students. It was
instilled by college students from Calcu a and Gauhati. They formed the Manipur Students
Congress and animated youngsters like me and the masses with freedom movements.
I used to a end these students meetings at the Aryan Theatre Hall or Rupamahal Theatre.
They organised processions when we shouted “Chhatra Congress Zindabad” and “Bharat
Mata ki Jay”.
Irabot now a confirmed communist, realising the potential of the youth formed the communist
orientated Manipur Students federation’ (MSF) and Mahila Sanmeloni (MS) for college
educated women.
The communist slogans such as ‘paddy fields should be owned by the peasants’ and songs like
Thangol adu thouna thangu he louuba –‘sharpen your scythe you ploughmen’ were very popular
among the peasants.
But it was a beguiling message to the peasants. In Communist Russia peasants did not own
land. They lived miserably, queuing long hours for a loaf of bread or an egg while the elite at
the Kremlin had their own shopping malls and department stores.
As almost all the paddy fields in the villages were owned by the Imphal townspeople, he was
not popular among the Meitei elite in Imphal. His popularity nosedived after he was openly
declared communist and went underground.
The mercurial rise of Irabot’s political career was abruptly stunted by an unfortunate accident.
It followed a circumstantialshooting of a police officer named Keisam Naran Singh on
September 21 1948 at a village called Pungdongbam in the northeast Imphal valley. He was the
officer in charge of Imphal Police Station, was middle aged and well built. No one knew who
shot him; it was rumoured that he shot himself accidentally with his own gun.
The bullet went through his right thigh (if I remember correctly) severing a main artery and he
bled to death before reaching Imphal Civil Hospital. I saw the body when he was brought to
the hospital by an Assistant sub inspector who I came to know well when I became Medical
Officer in Imphal and he was the Police officer in charge of Imphal Police station.

Irabat and his communist party organised a protest meeting on September 21 1948 at the
Manipur Dramatic Union hall to protest against Sardar Patel’s idea of the formation of
Purbachal Pradesh (Northeast province) which includes Tripura, Cachar, Lusai Hills and
Manipur.
A large group of people – communist sympathisers from the village of Pungdongbam came to
a end the meeting. A police party tried to stop their march and a scuffle ensued, during which
a bullet went off.
Irabot, with other young leaders, immediately went underground for fear of being arrested
and accused of fomenting a violent rebellion. A warrant for his arrest was issued by the
Interim Government. Praja Sabha, Krishak Sabha and Mahila Sanmeloni and other communist
organisations were banned. A reward of Rs. 10,000 was announced for his capture.
Irabot’s esteem in the eyes of the public began to dip below the radar until revived recently in
the 1990s by his admirers and rightly honoured with the Meitei epithet “Lamyanba”
(pathfinder). He will remain as our Che Guevara.
Irabot formed the Manipur Communist Party on October 29 1948. He organised its armed
wing known as the Manipur Red Guard with Th Bira as the Commander. Irabot continued to
publish his weekly memoranda to the Government from the Underground (Miyamgi
FingangLanmi in Manipuri)
Irabot was having correspondence with the Burmese Communist Party and they allowed him
to set up his base in the Kabaw valley. He went to Burma at the beginning of1951 to arrange
military training for his men. During another visit the same year he died from typhoid fever on
the morning of Septemeber 26 in the village of Tangbo.
The young party leaders such as N Binoy Singh, Ng Mohindro Singh, Th Bira Singh, M Megha
Singh and others were in jail by the mid ‘50s. I knew Binoy, Mohindro and Megha closely.
Binoy was our (boy’s) hero because of his physique and sportsmanship. We used to hear a lot
of his non-existent daring-dos at this time.
Later, N Binoy and his group formed the Kangleipak Comminist party, which has now
degenerated from an ideological communism to commercial activities.
Following the shooting incident hundreds of peasants were arrested and jailed. Among them
was a man of middle age and spare build, who was arrested at Phungdombam village. He was
always dressed in a red shirt and dhoti with a red Gandhi cap on his head. Whenever he was
marched from Imphal Central Jail to the Cheirap Panchayet (court) in the afternoon, he was
always jabbering to himself and we thought he was mad.
He marched keeping in step in the middle of a platoon of newly recruited Manipur Armed
Police. Some of them wore Khaki uniform and shouldered 303 rifles with one bullet in the
chamber. Nobody knew what he was charged with.
One such afternoon, I happened to be walking by the side of Wahangbam ongbi Medhabati
Debi (the first Meitei woman BA) who was returning from the school where she was a teacher.
Her husband Ibocha, who retired as Chairman of Imphal Municipality, was a great friend of
my eldest brother Gokulchandra.
She remarked to me: “they are walking him like a criminal.” I did not understand what she
meant at that time.
Irabot’s burgeoning early political career began with the founding of Nikhil Hindu Manipuri
Maha Sabha (NHMM) on May 30 1934. He campaigned for the modernisation of the economy,
social reforms and justice in Manipur. He tried to red-pencil the evils of the Anouba (new)
Brahmins’ Hinduism, especially the money making “mangba-sengba” (unclean-clean) furore.

In the 1930s thousands of poor people suffered as they had to pay a levy for Chandan Senkhai
(taxation for pu ing on the Vaishnavite tilak mark on the forehead) and fees for “sengdokpa”
(cleansing, purification). The NHMM also compelled the Meiteis to declare the tribal
communities untouchables.
Brahmins from the early days brought the caste system to Manipur: mayang Brahmins and
Meitei Kshatriyas, while the seven salais (clans) of the Meiteis were assigned the Vedic gotras.
Luckily, I remembered our ‘gotra’ was Shandila when my son Neil and I were asked by the
main panda as we went into the Sanctum Santorum of the Puri Temple. It saved my
embarrassment as it was the only one I knew.
Brahmins brought the Master and Servant relationship to the Meiteis. Every Brahmin, high or
low, was addressed as ‘aigya’ meaning ‘hukum kijiye’ in Urdu, which means “give me the
order, sir”. In the years after the War we had to kneel and touch the floor in front of a Brahmin
whenever he came to our house. He would say “Jai Jai”. Thus we had three castes in Manipur:
Brahmins, Kshatriyas and the Untouchables (tribals).
Manipur now has a secular and egalitarian society, no castes, no slavery but many creeds with
freedom to choose one’s own religion under the Indian Constitution.
Laimayum Lalita Madhob Sharma was a charming middle aged man with a pleasant
demeanour. He was good looking and spoke in cadence with perfect Hindi intonation. He was
always dressed in a pristine white Khaddar dhoti and kurta. A smart Congress cap always
donned his head. Later he found his roots in Bengal and changed his daughters’ surname to
“Cha erjee”.
His younger daughter was married to Brajamani Sharma, ex-Chief engineer, who also revived
his ancestors’ “Mukherjee” surname. I a ended their wedding as the groom’s companion.
Brajamani was a brilliant student, one year senior to me. He matriculated from Johnstone High
School and stood first in the whole Gauhati University. Because his name was Mukherjee, all
the national newspapers in Calcu a, such as Jugantar, Amrita Bazar Patrika and Statesman,
prided that a Bengali stood first in the all-Assam Matriculation examination.
Lalita Madhov, having been born and brought up as I was, at Uripok, Imphal was very well
known to me. I was present as a young boy at a small Congress meeting in 1947 somewhere at
Uripok when he made a speech explaining the meaning of the different colours of the
Congress flag.
I met him many a time in Delhi when he became an MP and I was a college student.
He stayed with me once when he visited Agra in 1958 where I was studying Medicine. He was
a likeable fellow, full of jest. His lack of university education was more than compensated by
his experience.
Lalita Madhob was an unorthodox Brahmin. As the General Secretary of NHMM he helped to
convert many tribal people as Hindu Meitei. One such person was a Kabui woman who was
married to a man in my neighbourhood. I was present at that short “sanctifying” ceremony
with a few Sanskrit mantras.
I was also fortunate when Laisram Achou Singh MP, who we regarded as the first educated
socialist of the Jay Prakash Narain party, came to Agra in 1959 and stayed at my hostel.
The history of Manipur politics began to emerge at the fourth session of NHMM at Chinga Hill
on December 29-30 1938. Lalita Madhob Sharma was the General Secretary. It was at the height
of ‘Mangba–Sengba’ unrest. The meeting brought consciousness to the educated Meiteis of
what it would be like to have a democratic government.

The meeting worked out a framework for opposing the feudal rule of the maharaja, and the
religious oppression of the Brahmins who had complicity with Maharaja Churachand. The
name of the organisation was changed to the Nikhil (all) Manipuri Mahasabha (NMM) by
dropping “Hindu”. Irabot was appointed as the President.
The Maharaja naturally, alienated himself. It had now begun to a ract non-Hindus. One of the
resolutions adopted was the return of the British administration of the hills to the State and
thus integrate the hill with valley – to stop the divide and rule policy of the British. It also
demanded the establishment of a representative form of government with a
LegislativeCouncil.
The NMM however, continued to exist as a necessary toothless tiger. New political parties
sprung up like mushrooms under the guidance of Irabot – all with communist leanings. The
Manipur Praja Mandal had been founded back in 1939 and Manipur Praja Sanmeloni on
January 7 1940.
Krishi Sanmeloni, a communist peasant movement established at Nambol in 1936 under the
leadership of Salam Herachandra and Maimong Madhumangol emerged as a political
heavyweight in 1946 when Irabot became its president. It then changed its name to the
Manipur Krishak Sabha (MKS). It advocated radical programmes for the be erment of poor
farmers. The urban sister organisation of the MKS was the Manipur Praja Sangha (MPS) by the
amalgamation of Manipur Praja Sammeloni and Manipur Praja Mandal.
While all these communist organisations were performing under Irabot, what was left of the
NMM eventually formed the Manipur Congress Party under the new President Lalita Madhob
Sharma. It continued its policy of protesting for economic and educational advancement and
renewed its call for an elected Legislative Assembly.
Back in 1940, realising the public unrest, the Governor of Assam, Sir Robert Reid, urged
Maharaja Churachand for more democratic reforms, in pursuance of British policy towards the
Indian Princely States. Nothing happened.
The Political Agent, Christopher Gimson, was quite piqued with the Maharaja’s lack of
interest, and at the same time he felt that the Maha Shaba could not be turned to constitutional
ways as most of its leaders had no ideas higher than that of making money. So he energised
and did not energise.
Gimson was also quite ne led as Churachand spent more time out of Manipur on holiday,
horse racing in Shillong, and pilgrimages at Nawadip rather than looking after the affairs of
the state as he failed to do so during the Nupilal II (2 Women’s War). Ultimately, he was
virtually exiled by the British. His nepotism, avarice and incompetence did not endear him to
the British Administrators. He died in Nawadip of tuberculosis on November 6 1941. Most
Manipuris were illiterate and had no idea of Churachand’s lack ofinterest in the welfare of his
people. Older folks were still addressing him as “Maharaja Ishwar”- God-king.
Churachand was succeeded by his not-so-colourful son Bodhchandra on November 21 1941.
His coronation was however, delayed till 1944 because of the War. The British administration
thought very li le of him. Bodhchandra did not have the monarchial personality that his
brother Priyobarta had, partly because he had truncate obesity. World War II, followed by the
independence movement, kept his influence away from the people.
I often watched him playing volleyball as the server hi ing the ball only once, inthe same team
as my brother Gokulchandra at Khwairamband mapal. Nobody gave two hoots. I had respect
for him. To me, his calm and composure was like a king though he never spoke a single word.
His face and hairdo reminded me of Buddha in contemplation.
He used to come in his black Morris Minor car (Britain’s most loved car, launched in 1948)
with his Coat of Arms of Pakhangba, painted in gold on both front doors. He was driven by a
chauffeur, uniformed in black tunic, breeches, long boots and a peaked cap. He had a trusted
nd

middle-aged personal bodyguard with a 0.32 revolver in a brown leather holster strung across
his right shoulder.
Bodhchandra was once banished by his father Churachand to Benares for some superstitious
activities like listening to the oracles (maiba/maibi) that gave him unfounded messages. To his
father he looked as if he was a empting to arrogate his throne.
While staying in Benares for a few years he met elderly Sri Prakasa as his mentor and who
later, in Shillong as the Governor, betrayed him.
World War II with brigadiers and generals in Manipur, with no authority of the Maharaja,
beli led Bodhchandra’s image in the eyes of the Meiteis. He had very li le to show during the
War years, and after the War he did not have the get-up to modernise his administration. Soon
he was embroiled in the political demand for a democratic government. Many regarded him as
the person who sold out Manipur though I do not agree.
After the War he toured some hill areas to make his presence felt as the king of Manipur and
with the intention of unifying the hills and the valley that the British Administration kept
apart. Time was not on his side. He was soon caught up in the new world movement of
political freedoms and liberties.
The end of the War ushered in Indian independence on August 15 1947, when the British
Labour Party came to power with A lee as the Prime Minister.
This was followed by Manipur’s newly found independence for 2 years, which was marred by
internal political conflict, invective backbiting and conspiracy until Manipur was forcibly
merged to Independent India in September 1949.
Newly Independent India forcibly annexed Manipur and some other native states (called
princely states by the British, to downsize them) using the same tactics that the British used in
the early days of the East India Company.
The end of the War in 1945 brought to the Manipuris a new dawn of modernity and a neo-
political frame of mind, especially among the educated Manipuris, both in the hills and the
plains.
In Manipur by January 1946, as it was in every princely state, there were recommendations for
the establishment of popular elected governments. Bodhchandra was not insensitive to the
mood of the people, but was not showing any sign of relinquishing his power as the rightful
monarch of Manipur. It was indeed a difficult decision for anybody. He was hoping for an
autonomous state similar to some princely states of India while Nehru thought Manipur to be
too small to exist as a state.
The return of Irabot, the prodigal son to Imphal in March 1946 signalled the beginning of a
shaky new era for Manipuri politics. He and his former political colleagues lost no time in
demanding democratic reform in Manipur. By this time, with the influence of the Indian
national Congress, the Manipur State Congress Party was becoming popular among the Meitei
elite. Apart from Lalita Madhob the names of E Tompok and RK Buhhansana and Banka
Bihari Sharma were heard in every home.
There was a joint meeting on April 5 1946 between the Congress President Lalita Madhob and
Elangbam Tompok on the one hand and Irabot on the other. Irabot represented the Manipur
Praja Mandal (MPM) as president and the NMM as a Commi ee member. RK Bhubansana
was the president of the joint meeting.
Many resolutions were passed such as what would be the status of Manipur after
independence. The proposal to include Manipur in Purbachal or the new North East Frontier
control of the hill areas and the British Reserve, which had been under British control since

1907. Surprisingly, the option to merge with India, if the majority so decided, was also
considered.
A few days after, some in the NMM leadership who were increasingly coming under the
inﬂuence of the Indian Congress, plo ed to remove communist Irabot from the political scene.
At a meeting chaired by the new Congress president Banka Bihari Sharma they decided to
accuse Irabot publicly over his communist aﬃliation and demand an explanation from him
within a fortnight.
Irabot though a communist, did not declare himself as a member of the Communist Party and
his association with the NHM was subterfuge. Irabot’s response was published in several
issues of Bahagyavati Patrika. He denied that the allegation was true and demanded that the
charge that he was a communist be withdrawn. Being a patriot, he stressed the importance of
all the political parties working together at this critical juncture of impending independence
for a be er political future of Manipur.
It fell on deaf ears. It went unheeded. Frustrated, Irabot now decided to use the muscle power
of his two parties – the MPM and MPS to compete with the NMM in demanding a
democratically elected legislative assembly.
The NMM petitioned Bodhchandra on August 3 1946, for an immediate declaration that there
would be a democratic government and he would set up a ‘constitution making commi ee’,
while in the meantime, an interim government would be instituted.
The following month, not to be left out in the cold, the MPM and MPS united to form the
Manipur Praja Sangha (MPS) with RK Bhubansana as president and Irabot as secretary. This
new party also petitioned Bodhchandra to set up a commission for organising the election of a
Legislative Assembly.
August 1 2011

In retrospect political affairs of manipur from 1946 1952 - dr im singh

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to In retrospect political affairs of manipur from 1946 1952 - dr im singh

Similar to In retrospect political affairs of manipur from 1946 1952 - dr im singh (12)

More from Mowardun Maring

More from Mowardun Maring (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

In retrospect political affairs of manipur from 1946 1952 - dr im singh