Pramot Singh, the chief of Meitei Leepun, a socio-cultural organisation which is at the forefront of Manipur’s present situation and known for its various social and cultural activities. The founder Pramot explained how after his experience in the NGO sector where he contributed to training and research and the first behaviour study of sex workers in Manipur and many other projects and from his childhood he wanted to do something for the Meiteis and Manipur. 

Pramot said that when he was retiring from his consulting work some elders approached him and said that they were looking for someone to work on the issues of Meitei’s as various loopholes needed to be fixed and that’s how he ventured into socio-cultural activities. Now as he looks back on the way Meitei Leepun as an organisation has evolved as of now the organisation’s members are very motivated, ideologically very strong and a disciplined group. He further echoed, ‘I have a feeling that after the May 3 2023 crisis that erupted in Manipur, we have carried forward and continue to do our work in future”.

Explaining the ideology of Meitei Leepun, Pramot said that ‘it is a movement to preserve and promote the identities of Meiteis and we are focussing on empowering our culture which is diminishing day by day because of the modern way of life, impacting our society, particularly the younger generation.   We are simply following the traditions of our forefathers.

The chief of Meitei Leepun also spoke about the existence of armed cadre in the organisation, he explained that they had a tradition where every man from each family used to join the war to defend the country or attack other countries and the system was also responsible for helping the society at the time of earthquake, landslide or wildfires etc. This system was abolished by the British and they are trying to revive the system. He further stressed that Meitei society itself is ‘Martial’ and we have been training our people to respond in case of any natural country. Most importantly as Manipur is a border state with China, a hostile country like Myanmar and Bangladesh, at any point in time anything can happen and we need to train ourselves to protect our lives and properties for which we applied for gun licence we trained them within the framework of law.

He also informed that when the May 3 crisis erupted in Manipur, Meitei Leepun cadres were busy trying to rescue the Meitei victims from the periphery and continued to settle them in the valley. They were active till June and as many other organisations cropped up, their participation in the conflict came down and concentrated on catering to the relief work in the relief camps. He categorically stated that their cadres were not involved in the burning of Kuki homes in Imphal Valley and they were more focused on rescuing the Meitei victims from the bordering areas.

Recollecting the ground report during the peak days of the crisis, Pramot informed that during those initial fifteen days, he could not sleep more than one hour a day as he was getting reports from the periphery where Kuki militants were attacking the Meitei people. We were in the forefront in the periphery rescuing people and consoling and rehabilitating them in the valley till June. We were busy defending our women and children and properties in the periphery.  

It was a big crisis and we also learnt many things. Since 2015 we have been apprehensive about things which can happen as we have porous international borders.

Pramot empathetically explained that Meitei Leepun post-June was more active in caring for the displaced people and motivating them to rebuild their lives and children. The children should not be developing a mindset of victims and they should be given a proper life. Besides the need for relief materials, there are many other things that needs to be looked after like marriage, childbirth, death etc. and there are ceremonies which also need to be looked into the human side of the problem, which we are trying to manage and particularly the children needs to be looked after for their psychological wellbeing and moral education.

He explained various programmes organised by Meitei Leepun for children, women, youths, adults and the elderly.

On the relationship of Meitei Leepun relationship with the state Government and particularly with Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, Pramot Singh explaining said, ‘We are not against the establishment but for the establishment as generally, many other CSOs tend to call for bandhs and dharnas, but we are trying to develop the system. For example, most of the CSOs are against this election but we are for election and are propagating that we should not just take money and think and decide what is right and wrong and not get influenced by caste or money.

While we propagate for the establishment, many think that we are the tool of the government but our movement is very transparent, our stand is clear, and we are not for any political party, non-biased and consistent. He echoed and said ‘ We closely working with Chief Minister Biren from the time of CAB agitation when we supported CAB and NRC. We supported the war on drugs, we supported the eviction of illegal people from reserve forests and finally the identification of illegal immigrants because these are the factors affecting the Meitei culture and society’. 

Pramot is hopeful that the Manipur economy will revive within a maximum of two years once the system is in place and once the Central Government takes shape. He wants the displaced people to be able to go back to their place and be rehabilitated. Those Indian Kukis who were living here before 1961 should be able to come back to Imphal and those Kukis who have come after 1961 should be removed from the Indian Citizen register and sent back. Then only we will be able to talk about the ‘peace’, now is not the time of ‘peace’ as the attack on Meitei was unprovoked so that Kuki militants can continue the drug trade and capture land. 

(The complete interview will be soon available in KRC TIMES YouTube Channel)

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