MMTU condemns CM for blaming ST demand
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, January 14 2025: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has strongly condemned the statements made by chief minister N Biren and union home minister Amit Shah, which attributed the ongoing crisis in the state to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) demand by the Meetei community.

MMTU asserted that these remarks appear to be a deliberate attempt to undermine the legitimate demand for constitutional safeguards for the Meeteis, whose population is declining.

In a statement, MMTU highlighted that the former chief justice of the High Court of Manipur had clarified that the crisis was not linked to the ST demand.

The organisation further stated that misinterpreting the high court ruling would constitute a violation of the law.

According to MMTU, the government's reluctance to address the ST demand reflects its unwillingness to take measures to ensure the constitutional protection of the Meetei community, which faces existential threats.

The organisation also cited a prior admission by the chief minister regarding intelligence failure during the initial phase of the crisis and his recent statement of not getting intelligence reports for 15 months.

MMTU questioned the government's continued ignorance of the root cause of the crisis, pointing out that the public is well aware of the actual factors involved.

One undeniable fact, the statement noted, is the non-involvement of other tribal communities in violent activities, despite their participation in the solidarity march organised by ATSUM against the high court ruling.

MMTU criticised the government for treating the Meetei ST demand as unacceptable and attempting to divert attention from the issue.

It defended the demand as a legitimate public movement for security and survival, akin to those movements of underprivileged communities worldwide.

Labelling the demand as unreasonable would be unjust, the statement said.

The union also claimed that the Kuki-Zo community has been pursuing a long-standing agenda for a separate Kuki nation.

According to MMTU, the policy for a Kuki homeland began in 1948 under the leadership of T Kipgen, the then state home secretary, who sent the first proposal to the Centre to identify only the Kuki community as ST.

He facilitated the entry of Kuki-Zo people from across the border by removing the foreigner pass system and played a role in Manipur's merger with India in 1949.MMTU stated that the demand for a Kukiland or Zalengam has been ongoing since 1958 and linked the current crisis to this agenda.

The aggression against the Meeteis, according to MMTU, began well before the events of May 3, 2023 .

On May 22, 2022, Mark T Haokip, the leader of an organisation called the Government of the Republic of Kukiland, was arrested by the police.

Around the same period, the Kuki community began renaming and claiming ownership of sacred Meetei religious sites, such as Koubru and Thangjing, as their ancestral lands.

In February 2023, the state government formed a cabinet sub committee to identify illegal immigrants and launched operations in areas like Churachandpur, Tengnoupal, and Kangpokpi, identifying 2,490 illegal immigrants.

This move provoked resentment among ministers and MLAs from the Kuki-Zo community.

Simultaneously, the government intensified eviction drives against forest encroachments and illegal poppy cultivation.

Amid these rising tensions, valley-based civil society organisations (CSOs) strongly pushed for an update to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

These actions led to Kuki CSOs and student bodies initiating propaganda against the state government and the Meetei community.

MMTU pointed to the April 27, 2023 incidents - when an open gym scheduled to be inaugurated by the Chief Minister was vandalised and burned, along with a similar attack on a Meetei temple - both in Churachandpur district as the immediate precursors to the violence on May 3.MMTU warned that suppressing the Meetei ST demand would jeopardise the survival of the community, which has been left without constitutional protection since its merger with India.

The Meeteis face threats from a population of 140 crore Indians and waves of illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The community's cultural, traditional, political, social, and economic survival is under serious threat of assimilation.

The union stressed that only the constitutional protection of ST status can safeguard the Meetei community and its future.

With the proposed 2025 census and the 2028 delimitation process, the Meetei community risks losing around 10 assembly seats, reducing it to a minority.

Citing examples of other communities like Pahari, Padari, Koli, and Gadda Brahmin in Jammu and Kashmir, who recently gained ST status, MMTU urged the government to expedite the inclusion of the Meeteis in the ST list by sending necessary reports and recommendations.

Comment