Residents and temple caretakers managed to douse the fire before it spread
A Lord Shiva temple was partially damaged after some people sneaked into the compound at night and set it on fire in Manipur's Senapati district. Sources said the temple was attacked twice weeks apart, adding it caught fire in the second attack in the early hours today.
CCTV footage from the temple shows a burning log being thrown towards a door inside the temple's courtyard.
In another footage, which locals said is from the first attack, a masked man is seen hiding behind a pillar for some time, before he ran away.
Residents and temple caretakers managed to douse the fire before it spread, a local civil society organisation told NDTV.
The Naga Peoples' Organisation (NPO) and the Karong-Senapati Town Committee (KSTC) in a joint statement strongly condemned the attempt to burn the Shri Shri Pashupati Nath Mandir.
"... Senapati is a peace-loving town where everyone has been practising their religion. Any element which works to break the social serenity is highly condemnable," the two organisations said in the statement.
They asked the police to catch the suspects immediately.
Sources alleged the arson was meant to create communal and ethnic tension.
Manipur Rajya Sabha MP Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba in a post on X condemned the attack on the temple.
"Strongly condemn looting and setting of Shri Pashupati Nath Mandir, Senapati, Manipur on fire at around 1 am of 25/9/24. Every responsible citizen should condemn such barbaric acts as an infringement on secularism. The culprit(s) should be booked at the earliest," he said.
A police officer in Senapati told NDTV they have taken the matter very seriously as it seemed the suspects wanted to create trouble in the multi-ethnic district that has remained free from violence since May 2023.
The police are, however, yet to give a full statement on the matter.
Manipur has also not fully recovered from the ethnic violence that began in May 2023 between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis - a term given by the British in colonial times - who are dominant in some hill areas of the state. Over 220 people were killed and nearly 50,000 were internally displaced.
The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar's Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.