ST call cannot be traded with other demands : STDCM
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 23 2024:
After remaining silent for some time, the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee Manipur (STDCM) has said that the call being raised to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Meetei/Meitei should not be traded with other demands.
STDCM, in a statement, also said that any undertaking to protect the territorial and administrative integrity of Manipur should not mix up with the Meiteis seeking Constitutional safeguard in the form of ST.
The STDCM urged the Cabinet to take a decision to send the recommendation sought by the Centre to begin the process to add Meetei/Meitei in the ST list.
It also appealed to all the Ministers and MLAs who have already endorsed the popular demand of Meetei/Meitei to translate their verbal assurance into action and discuss the matter with the Chief Minister.
While thanking all the organisations and individuals who have been taking forward the movement to grant ST tag to the Meetei/Meitei, the STDCM said that they are planning to host a consultative meeting and people's convention in the first week of September to decide future course of actions.
The Committee appealed to all the people to attend the proposed consultative meeting and the people's convention.
Saying that STDCM has been urging successive Central and the State Governments to give ST tag to the Meetei/Meitei under Article 342 (1) since 2012, the Committee added that the first step to fulfil the demand is for the State Government to send the ethnographic and socio- economic reports of the ethnic group to the Centre along with the recommendation.
Further stating that the Centre had written to the State Government on May 29, 2013 over the matter as a response to its representation, the STDCM continued that the successive State Governments, unfortunately, haven't sent the recommendation to the Centre till now.
The STDCM went on to state that they stopped their movement for some time due to the unrest in Manipur.
Maintaining that what they demand is to give Constitutional safeguard to the Meetei/Meitei to protect its identity, the STDCM added that the most efficient way to protect the land and identity of any community in India is to grant them the ST status.
The call to enlist Meetei/Meitei in the ST list should not be traded off with other demands, the STDCM reiterated.
Meanwhile, the STDCM said that the Government should work on war-footing to resettle the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) to their native places.
It condemned the inability of the Government to resolve the crisis in Manipur.