Yearning for self realisation

Samarjit Kambam *

The old flag of Kangleipak seen during Mera Chaoren Houba at Kangla on October 05 2013 :: Pix - Ashok Ningthoujam

We the Meiteis have been holding on all along like a sheep in wolf's clothing. In mainland India, beyond the chicken-neck of the North East we are mocked as Nepalese or Junglees. When you say you are a Hindu you will be booed at and taunted like a scapegoat. You may possess your Identity Card stating your religious status as Hindu but as the Meiteis have been included in Other Backward Caste(OBC), you will be treated or looked down upon as a Hindu Sudra – the lowest rung in the caste hierarchy of Hinduism.

I should say, this is the vicious truth for the Meiteis as per the prevailing status quo and we are swimming in the troubled water of 'Identity Crisis'. At the home front we are revered to as the suppressor of the various tribal communities residing in the hills. We are between the devil and the deep sea. Actually the Meiteis are peace loving people, the hatred by the hill brothers towards the valley inhabited Meiteis sparked into a blaze centuries back after a huge chunk of the Meitei populace converted their religion to Hindu, particularly Hindu Vaishnavites by Shantidas Gosai, a Bengali preacher from Sylhet, Bangladesh during the reign of King Pamheiba.

Even though Pamheiba burnt and destroyed the holy book of the Meiteis called "Puya" related to Sanamahism religion, imposed a ban on following Sahamahism and forcibly converted the Meiteis to Hindus, many Meitei families clandestinely embraced 'Sanamahism'. To majority of the the Meiteis the 'Sanamahee' is still considered more sacred a deity or god which dates back milleniums back thereby showing that the Hindu status adorned to Meiteis is just like donning a new clothing on a body or tantamount to a new bottle with old wine inside.

Manipur was a princely state since 3500 years ago, the first king being 'Ningthou Kaangba'. Before converting to Hinduism, the Meiteis buried their dead and Sanamahism was the main religion and had no difference with our hill brothers by living the tribal ways of life. Before conversion to Hindus Meiteis were majority tribals who resided in the valley areas. We have our millennium old Lai Haraoba of the Sanamahism culture comprising of Maibi dance, Naga dance, Kabui dance, Bamboo dance etc. which reflects our age old tradition of intermingling, love and peaceful co-existence like brothers and sisters among the different tribes in Manipur.

After conversion to Hindus, the converted Meiteis during King Pamheiba's time started to treat the people of the hill as inferior in status and were even denied entry to Meitei homes. The decadence of centuries old love and brotherhood among the people of hill and valley arose and the delicate fabric of blood brothers (Mera Wayungba, Mera Houchongba are examples) was torn apart. Resentment thus brew up among the hill people. After some centuries Manipur was annexed to the British Empire in 1891 after the defeat of the Meiteis by the British in the Anglo-Manipuri war of Khongjom and thus Manipur's sovereignty for more than three millenniums was lost.

It regained its freedom on August 28, 1947 but did not last long. On 15 October 1949, Manipur was annexed into the Indian territory. After that everything went political and the hatred between the Meiteis and people residing in the hills soared higher. The more political, the more the hatred. The different communities among the hills even began to loathe each other due to the political interference and vested interest of a few influential persons who live like tycoons in foreign soil at the cost of many innocent civilians lives. The massacre that took place some years back between the two major communities of Manipur i.e. the Nagas and Kukis where thousands lost their lives and lakhs rendered homeless and displaced are vivid reminders.

The Meiteis have now realised that Manipur is almost going to the point of no return. Since the following of Hinduism, damages in the form of "domino's effect" have gone too far. Collateral damage - the rift of ethnic divide among different tribes and communities is getting ever widening with each passing day. It is strongly felt that the time has come for people of all the communities to unite before we get drowned in the sea of outsiders while we are hating, loathing, lynching and killing each other.

It would be totally wrong if the hill people view the demand for ST status by the Meiteis from a different angle and myopic scope that the Meiteis are eyeing upon the quota system meted out to the hill people. The hill brothers need not be concerned that quota for ST in white collar jobs and other benefits will be snatched by the Meiteis. As per Indian Constitution, their own share of quota will remain as it is and the tribal Meiteis will have their own provision for ST status. Scraping of the quota system completely by the Indian government is an altogether different matter.

The ground reality is that majority of the Meiteis who follow Hinduism have self realised and want to have their real identity as tribal Meiteis. Granting ST status to Meiteis is the only solution to protect identity crisis as well as to regain the love of brotherhood among the various communities residing in Manipur regardless of valley and hills. The criteria for a community to be regarded as ST are – identification of distinctive culture, primitive traits, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large and overall socio-economic backwardness. The Meiteis fulfill all these criteria.

The Meiteis were recorded as major tribe of Manipur in the official records of the Govt. of India prior to the issuance of Scheduled Tribe gazette notification in 1950. But due to the vested interest of some Meiteis, particularly of the royal blood and some short-sighted politicians who thought of themselves as high-caste Hindus opposed tooth and nail for the grant of ST status to Meiteis and so here we are, lying prostrate like a fallen tree.

The hastily made Constitution of India, after independence from British colonial rule had regarded the people residing in the hills of Manipur as Scheduled Tribes cocooning them under Schedule V & VI of the Indian Constitution thereby giving them territorial stability. If things were reverted and the Meiteis were granted ST status by the Indian Constitution, Manipur, like other states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram would have become a ST state which would have a positive impact for the state of Manipur as there would be no hatred between valley and hill people and the bond of brotherhood among the various communities of Manipur regardless of valley or hill which was there for millenniums would not have been shattered.

As of now, there is no provision for protection of the Meiteis even though we are looked upon as majority of the state. The ground reality is that the Meiteis have slipped far behind in every strata be it territorial stability, economy, employment, development, benefit from central government. In fact, the Meiteis are in dire straits, in doldrums unable to see the better side of the horizon.

In this regard I honestly give my sincerest thanks to Dr Irengbam Mohendra and Lt Col(Retd) Laishram Lokendra for their whole-hearted efforts in waking up the Meiteis from their hazardous slumber and bringing up this issue to the limelight in tandem with MSTDC(Meitei Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee). The grant of ST status to the Meiteis would thereby lead to easy implementation of ILP system as per Article 19(5) of the Indian Constitution where the state government has the right to implement its own law for protection of its indigenous people which may be considered as 'automatic for the people'.

In fact it will be tantamount to hitting two birds with one stone. The people residing in the hills should also come out from their own narrow outlook by bringing forth their faith that granting ST status to the Meiteis will go a long way in fostering peace, stability and love amongst the denizens of Manipur.