N. Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur who has started the campaign on ‘War on Drugs’ echoed that ‘it is indispensable to encourage the youth to practice martial arts to revive and sustain this discipline and also to build up a healthy society free from drugs and intoxicants.

Chief Minister echoed these while he distributed around 4000 Thang-Ta mats to 40 different Thang-Ta organizations under an initiative taken up with his supervision to popularize the indigenous martial arts of Manipur. The function held at Indoor Stadium, Khuman Lampak on Friday.

He also added that the Government would extend all possible assistance to all the villages which aspire to establish a training centre or organization of any martial art form.

Stating that Manipuris were disciplined people, who could lay down lives for the motherland, the Chief Minister observed that their discipline and patriotism were derived from their age-old culture, tradition and customs, of which martial arts was also a significant component.  N. Biren Singh said that sense of sacrifice for the motherland came from patriotism and Thang-Ta Gurus used to instill these values into young minds in the past.

Singh proudly stated that despite its small size and less population, Manipur had a glorious history of 2000 years as an independent kingdom. It could not only defend its territory on its own but also expand its boundary from time to time by defeating neighbouring kingdoms as it had a disciplined army well-versed in different forms of martial arts.