No to anti-constitutionality and anti-India
(in the demand of ST status for Mee-Tai)
Laishram Subhash *
A maibi presiding on a religious function on the eve of Fairen gee 29 nee panba in March 2011
The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) is demanding for constitutional establishment of the Mee Tai in the list of the Scheduled tribe (ST) of the Government of India. This demand results from the realization of the fact that though the Mee-Tais are generally Hindus by religion, but they are not Aryans racially, as racially, they are Mongoloids.
In other words, the Mee-Tai are Mongoloids, being a section of the great Tai race (see p.10 of T.C.Hudson : The Meitheis). According to the provisions of the article 342(1) & (2) of the Constitution of India, a group of community can demand for the enlistment for their community in the list of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) of the Government of India.
The STDCM's demand for inclusion of the Mee Tai community in the list of ST is thereby constitutional because the Mee-Tai have every right to exercise their constitutional rights given to them by the Constitution.
One of the objective realities of the Manipuri society is that the hill people and the valley people are two brothers; the former is the elder and the latter the younger. The descent of the hill people from the hills which surround the valley, took place when it dried and became fit for human settlement.
According to page 11 of T.C. Hudson referred to above, the Meithies were same as those of the hill people in respect of internal organization, manners, habits, culture, etc. before the Meithies were converted into Hinduism during the reign of Maharaja Garib Niwaz in the early 18th century.
The demand of the STDCM for the inclusion of Mee Tai in the list of the ST has another important social implication. The Committee has a firm belief that the tribalization of the Mee-Tai will result in the establishment of a Manipuri society based on equal status with no distinction between hill and valley in the state of Manipur.
The Manipuri society with the issue of the Presidential Order of India 1950, was split up into tribal and non-tribal. The tribalization of Mee-Tai will therefore usher in a Manipuri society which will be devoid of fragmented society into tribal and non-tribal.
Lastly, the tribalization of the Mee-Tai is in exercise of the provisions of the article 342 (1) & (2) as already referred to above. Therefore, the opposition to the demand of the STDCM shall logically tantamount to opposing the Indian Constitution and also entailing to the blocking of the consciousness of being Indian in India, and hence, any community in India can never logically and constitutionally oppose the constitutional demand of another community such as Mee-Tai for ST status.
Hence, there is a lot of significance to uphold the proposition to posit a complete 'No' to 'anti-constitutionality' and 'anti-India' in the context of the tribalization of Mee-Tai community and their constitutional right to be exercised for ST status under the purview of the Constitution of India.
* Laishram Subhash wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer is Convenor, ST (Scheduled Tribe) Demand Committee of Manipur.
He is a social activist based in New Delhi and can be contacted at stdcofmanipur(at)gmail(dot)com
This article was posted on August 25, 2013.
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