Imphal, April 2 (MExN): The 84th Zeliangrong Solidarity Day was held on April 1 at Chingmeirong Kabui Village Community Hall in Imphal. The programme was jointly organized by Zeliangrong Baudi (Assam, Manipur & Nagaland), Zeliangrong Youth Front (ZYF) and Zeliangrong Students’ Union. The programme commemorated the first ever “Solidarity Day” held on April 1, 1934 at Tamenglong, HQ “where Zeliangrong elders drawn from different places came together as one and took a Solidarity pledge that the Zeliangrong people are one from the same ancestry by performing a ‘Solidarity Ritual Oath,’” a press release from the ZYF informed. As part of the ritual, a black cat was beheaded and buried in two different directions i.e., East and West, with the imprecation that a similar fate will befall on whosoever breaks the unity or threatens the oneness of Zeliangrong people, the ZYF stated. The 84th Solidarity Day programme was attended by Village Headmen, elders and senior leaders, village authority, women leaders, intellectuals, social and public leaders, religious leaders etc. On the day, the public made a declaration to uphold the oath taken by the forefathers in 1934 to maintain oneness of the Zeliangrong people “at all times and at any cost.” Resource persons viz., Dr. Benjamin Gangmei, Dr. Budha Kamei, Eshwar Chaoba Kamson and Akham Gonmei elaborately dwelt on the significance of the day and its sacred observance. President of the Zeliangrong Baudi, Athuan Abonmai questioned the logic behind granting recognition to Zeme, Liangmai and Rongmei as separate tribes. “How can the Zeliangrong people who are from the same ancestry, same culture, same custom, same tradition and same practices but only slight dialectal variation can be qualified to become separate and categorize under different tribes status?” Abonmai questioned. “Is it possible and correct to grant separate tribe recognition status to children’s of the same parents and same race of origin?” he added. Many elderly persons spoke on the occasion and exhorted the gathering that the bond of oneness among Zeliangrong brothers “will never be separated by the so called separate tribe recognition,” the ZYF’s release stated. The elders also strongly cautioned that the outcome of the “family destruction” will only reduce the brothers into minority and weak people “which would not be pardoned by the upcoming generation,” the release stated.
