Shiv Sena: Hitting the right button : Taking it to the PM, HM
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 13, 2023 -

Hitting the right button to make it to the news and all for the right reason, if one may add.

As far as the records available with The Sangai Express say, the Shiv Sena, albeit the State unit, is the first political party in Manipur to come out openly to endorse the stand that the Meeteis/Meiteis should be included in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution of India.

The party also took their stand a notch or two or even three higher in submitting the required memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla.

This is again where the Shiv Sena has scored a sort of a first, becoming the only political party in Manipur to have taken the ST case to the office of the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The stand of the State unit of Shiv Sena follows the stand of a good number of MLAs who have openly backed the ST demand put forth by the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) and backed by others civil society organisations like the World Meetei Council (WMC) and others.

Sure to be a good boost to the STDCM and the WMC and one hopes it does not stop at the stage of submitting memoranda to the people who matter at New Delhi, but take it forward.

The question is, as a political party what more can one expect from the Shiv Sena, in so far as the ST demand for the Meeteis/Meiteis goes ?

Difficult to say for here is a party which does not have much of a presence in Manipur, but is nonetheless seen to be an important political entity with their hands on the right string at New Delhi.

The campaign launched by the STDCM seems to be on the right track at the moment and the course of action taken up by the Shiv Sena is perfectly in line with the process of reaching out individually to the different Ministers and MLAs of Manipur.

With almost all the MLAs having backed the campaign of STDCM, the natural question that follows is, what is stopping the BJP led Government from sending the needed recommendations to the Centre?

No reason has ever been spelt out and the silence of the State Government on the matter is likely to give room for speculations to rise and this may not exactly be healthy for the State as a whole.

The more important and more interesting question at the moment could be, what other steps has the STDCM thought out?

After individually calling on the different MLAs, what can be the next course of action for the STDCM?

An answer may come sooner or later and one hopes the details have been worked out.

It is going to be a long shot, there is no doubt about it, and this is where it would become necessary for the STDCM and the others which have backed the ST demand to be ready for the long haul.

What steps have also been taken up to take all the people along with the demand ?

No easy answer here and there will be opposition to the ST demand not only from those who have already been tagged as tribal groups, but also from amongst the Meitei community.

A point which the STDCM and WMC must have taken cognizance of much earlier.

Despite the opposition coming from different quarters, the campaign should continue.

One should understand why there was such a strong demand to enforce the Inner Line Permit System here and perhaps one may come around to the idea of why the Meiteis need Constitutional protection.

The ST demand is not something which came from the fertile mind of anyone and this is a point that should be acknowledged.

Everyone is free to settle in the valley area of Manipur, which is the home of the Meiteis and this is where some sort of a Constitutional protection for the land arises.

Remember the valley constitutes just about 10 percent of the total geographical area of Manipur, but everyone is free to settle here, including those who have risen to oppose the ST demand for the Meiteis.

Nothing can be more quixotic than this.