Royal scion fasts - and calls off

The King is dead - not quite in Manipur.

The titular king in the northeast Indian state Leishemba Sanajaoba shook up the state government when he went on a hungerstrike, uannounced, on June 24.

He was upset when the state cabinet decided to accquire his Sana Konung palace and preserve it as heritage property.

But after nine days, the King has broken his fast.

"Women groups and other non-government organisations have requested him to withdraw the hunger strike and start a dialogue with the state government," says his advisor Puyam Tomcha. "The King has accepted their suggestion and broken his fast."

But the King is opposing the state's decision to acquire the palace under the Historical Monuments Act.

The state government says they had decided to take over the palace and adjoining lands to preserve it as part of "Manipur's glorious heritage."

The King, always short of funds, has been selling the lands around the palace.

"The area has been loosing its character and becoming a concrete jungle," says a Manipur government spokesman.

In the neighbouring state of Tripura, the royal Ujjayanta palace in capital Agartala, has been taken over by the government and houses the state assembly.

But a substantial area on the left of the Palace has been left for the royal family which lives there.

Tripura's royal family is financially better off than many with its Shillong Castle used as a heritage hotel and King Pradyot Kishore Manikya owns an English monthly "Northeast Today".

Manipur has been in news for a hugely famous hunger strike -- for 13 years now -- by Irom Sharmila Chanu who says she will not eat unless the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is scrapped.

Critics say this Act is often misused by security forces during counter-insurgency operations.

Authorities force feed Sharmila through the nose to keep her alive.