Thangjing Ching to ‘Thangting Camp’: Manipur Govt Initiates Action Over Renaming of Protected Site

Imphal: The Government of Manipur has filed a police complaint against a Kuki insurgent group for renaming a sacred hill of the valley-dominant Meitei community and initiated legal action against the group for claiming the area as its “camp”. This has come up after the Kuki National Front - Military Council, or KNF(MC), which also calls itself the "Kuki Army", had allegedly installed a signboard at the base of the Thangjing ching (hill) calling it "Thangting camp" of the "Kuki Army".

While filing the complaint into the matter, the state government stated that the Kuki armed group's action could spiral into another round of violence amid the ethnic tension between the hill-dominant Kuki tribes and the Meiteis.

The Meitei community in the lakeside Moirang town had been going for pilgrimage to Thangjing ching, the home of the deity Ibudhou Thangjing. They believe the Thangjing ching site to be at least 2,000 years old. The tribes call this hill range Thangting, which falls under Churachandpur district.

Renaming is violation of the Manipur Names of Places Act, 2024: Manipur CM

Later, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh took to X, saying that the state government has filed a police complaint over the incident as the area is a protected site. He said that the renaming is violation of the Manipur Names of Places Act, 2024, and so therefore an action has been initiated in the matter.

In his post, the Chief Minister wrote, “The State Government has immediately taken up measures to book any group or individuals involved in changing existing names of places in the state. Under Manipur Names of Places Act, 2024, a case has also been registered for renaming a part of Thangjing hill range as ‘Thangting.”

Notably, the Thangjing ching range lies between Moirang town and Churachandpur district, 40 km apart. Churachandpur and nearby areas are where ethnic violence began on May 3, 2023. The people in Moirang, which is home to the northeast's largest freshwater lake Loktak, also consider the deity Ibudhou Thangjing the area's guardian.

The Manipur cabinet in October 2022 took a decision to include four hectares of Ibudhou Thangjing, two hectares of Koubru Laipham, and four hectares of Lai Pukhri under Section 4 of the Manipur Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1976, which protects these places from encroachments.

Manipur government sources said the Kuki insurgent group's blatant act to install a signboard claiming the hill as the "camp" of the "Kuki Army" would be taken as an act of hostility. They said the central government will be briefed about the escalation by the armed group, and possible course of action.

This was not the first time Thangjing ching saw a controversy. In February, a cross was installed atop the hill in an act seen as destabilising in the violence-hit state. In October 2023, photos taken with powerful zoom lenses and drone footage had confirmed the installation of another cross on the hill. Moirang MLA Thongam Shanti had told NDTV the cross came up on the same spot where the shrine of Ibudhou Thangjing stood.