IMPHAL, Dec 13 � Manipur paid rich tributes to women freedom fighters who took part in the first and second Nupee Lal (women�s war) against the Britishers by organising various events yesterday.
The State Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Nongthonbam Biren Singh were the chief guest and president at the State level observation of 71st Nupee Lal Day in Imphal.
Speaking on the occasion, Ibobi appealed to the public to join hands in settling issues confronting the State.
He also expressed that the time has come for the womenfolk to come out and help in sorting out the problems facing the State. The present government is trying its best to do the needful for the welfare of the public, he added.
In the first Nupee Lal in 1904, Manipuri women rose up in arms against the British Government�s order to use men as �forced labour� for the construction of an assistant political agent�s house in Imphal.
In the second Nupee Lal on December 12, 1939, thousands of women marched to the State Durbar Hall demanding a ban on the export of rice as floods had caused extensive damage to crops that year.
Nupi Lal observation committee also organised a function at Thangmeiband Athletic Union Ground in Imphal West district while All Manipur Women�s Reformation and Development Samaj in association with some other women bodies organised a function at Lamyanba Shanglen at Palace Gate in Imphal East district.
The proscribed Revolutionary People�s Front (RPF)�s women wing in a press statement on the eve of the 71st anniversary of Nupee Lal observed that it was because of the inspirations given by the two historic wars that many women today took up arms to fight against the alien rule.
