To SC against HC directive : Then why the rally of May 3 ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 09, 2023 -

If the directive of the High Court of Manipur to the State Government to send the needed report to the Centre for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution of India was to be taken to the Supreme Court of India, then where was the need to organise the Tribal Solidarity Rally on May 3 ?

This is a question which only MLA Dinganglung Gangmei and the All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur can answer. And answer they must for the said student body can be and should be held culpable for the mayhem that Manipur is witnessing right now.

Why organise such a charged rally if they cannot control it is another question which ATSUM is liable to answer and answer they must.

The Government should look into the points that have been raised.

The affected people, the Meiteis and the Kukis, too should be raising this question. Moreover it is also incumbent on the part of the Government to investigate and find out who set the Anglo-Kuki War gate located just about 7 kilometres from Churachandpur town on the day the rally was staged for to many this was the spark that ignited the fire that soon spread resulting in one of the worst ethnic confrontations that Manipur has seen to date.

Who would have gathered the gumption to set on fire a symbolically important structure of the Kukis on the day the rally was organised and which is located just about 7 kilometres from Churachandpur town, one of the main venues for the said rally ?

These are all questions at the moment, but questions which should be studied rationally and logically for this can be said to be the immediate spark that set off the mayhem that put Manipur on flames for days.

Lives lost, many killed, houses raged to the ground, properties looted, curfew imposed, internet suspended and most importantly the loss of confidence in each other and as observed here earlier, Imphal will not be the same.

If the ST for Meitei demand was the sole reason, then why organise the rally if the matter could have been referred to a higher Court, which is the Supreme Court, in this case ?

Defies logic and all sane reasoning.

It is there on record to see that the rally started and ended peacefully at Ukhrul and Senapati and in the other districts save for Churachandpur and the mayhem that followed spread to only Kangpokpi and Moreh and not to the other hill districts and hereby hangs a very significant tale. Is this really tribal solidarity ?

It was just a directive to the State Government. Be very clear.

The High Court of Manipur does not have the authority nor did it even hint that the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list of the Constitution of India.

All it did was just direct the State Government to send the socio-economic report of the Meiteis to the Centre, as asked by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

That the State Government slept over the issue for ten years is on record for it was on May 29, 2013 that the Centre had sent a written intimation to the State Government to send the report.

This is the fact as it stands today.

If ATSUM or anyone has any misgiving with the ruling of the High Court then the Supreme Court is the right platform to approach and not a Tribal Solidarity March as organised on May 3.

The natural question that follows then is whether there was any other agenda that was not spelt out but which was there to evoke such an outrage in the first place ?

This is where looking back at the past few months may throw some lights.

The rally was called and staged against the backdrop of the growing call for a National Register of Citizens, the mass poppy destruction drive launched by the State Government under its War on Drugs campaign, the eviction drive at Reserved and Protected Forests etc and this is significant.

All points that need to be probed and this is where the petition filed by the Manipur Tribal Forum for a Special Investigation Team in the Supreme Court of India to probe the clashes falls perfectly in line with the call for sane reasoning.