PMC backs ST status demand for Meiteis
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 25 2019:
Throwing its weight behind the demand that Meiteis be included in the ST list of the Constitution of India, the Pan Meetei Convention (PMC) has stated that it supports and will extend all co-operation to the ST status demand for the Meiteis.
Speaking to media persons at the conference hall of AMAFA Enterprises, Churachandpur parking, Keishampat Junction, today president of Pan Meetei Convention, Heigrujam Nabashyam said that all the Meiteis residing in other countries or region originated from Manipur and members of PMC are drawn from Meiteis settled all over other than Manipur.
The demand that Meiteis be included in the ST list is driven by the need to have a Constitutional safeguard for the Meiteis, said Nabashyam.
He informed that during 1970-71 there were around 1 lakh Meiteis in Tripura but today the number is just 20,000 as most of the Meitei villages have vanished.
In the past, Meiteilon was the second language in Tripura and even Bengali people spoke Meiteilon.
But today, there are no schools where Meiteilon is taught, he claimed.
Stating that the demand for inclusion of Meiteis in the ST list raised by Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee Manipur (STDCM) is a reasonable and just demand, he said that if the Meiteis fail to get any kind of Constitutional protection by the time the railways reaches the State, the community will not be able to survive long even if it is the major community in Manipur.
Assuring full support for the inclusion of Meiteis in the ST list, Nabashyam said that Pan Meitei Convention will also support the March 3 public rally planned by STDCM.
He further clarified that the fear that Meiteis will take away all the hills and the ST quota reserved for the tribals, if it gets in the ST list, is an unfounded and baseless fear.
On the other hand, Pan Meitei Convention general secretary Hijam Rajen stressed on the importance of a sound economic policy for the development of the region.