ST status should precede delimitation: MMTU
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 09 2024: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has categorically stated that carrying out delimitation and Census (population) exercise before deporting the illegal immigrants settling in Manipur would be illogical.

MMTU, in a two page statement signed by its organisation secretary Takhel- lambam Parijat, also contended that the Meetei should be accorded the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status before the proposed delimitation as the ethnic group has been deprived of its rights for a long time.

Meetei has become more like a minority group in its own land, MMTU.

Continuing that Census exercise got delayed due to Covid pandemic, the union asked why the Government is determined to conduct the Census amid the ethnic conflict engulfing Manipur.

MMTU further asked if the Census has been designed to implement a discreet agenda of the Government of India (GoI) .

Further stating that the GoI assured to give a special provision which will benefit Manipur under Clause 3 of Article 8 of the Constitution at the time of signing the Merger Agreement, the union asked whether turning Manipur into a safe haven for illegal immigrants was the master plan of GoI.

MMTU claimed that indigenous Meetei people are being deprived of their political, socio-economic and land rights.

Maintaining that the identity of Meetei has also been disappearing due to faulty policy and programme of the Government, the union said that the valley districts of Manipur will lose some Assembly seats in near future if no corrective action is taken up.

The union claimed that the valley districts will lose 10 seats if the delimitation is done based on the Census report of 2025 .

Even if the delimitation is done based on the Census report of 2011 or 2001, the valley districts will lose six or three Assembly seats, it added.

The Meetei may disappear in the next 40 or 50 years if no corrective measure is taken up, MMTU said while accusing the GoI of scheming to bifurcate Manipur and turn the State into a settlement of illegal immigrants.

Tens of thousands of people are still taking refuge in different relief camps set up across the State, the union continued.

The GoI is preparing to carry out the Census without paying any attention to the persistent demand of the people to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the union rued and claimed that the GoI has been working in synergy with a section of people who engage in power politics to include Kuki, Chin and Mizo people from Myanmar and other illegal immigrants in the upcoming Census and convert them into Indian citizens.

Over 2700 unauthorised villages have already been set up in areas dominated by Kuki-Zo people, the union said and added that the number of voters in Chura-chandpur and Kangpokpi published in the 2022 electoral roll was 221046 and 99982 respectively.

It is an open secret that some politicians are doing vote bank politics to stay in power, MMTU said.

Chief Minister N Biren had also spoken about the mushrooming of unauthorised villages on multiple occasions, the union maintained.

It is unlikely that the Census report would reflect the ground reality in Kuki-Zo inhabited areas, MMTU maintained and claimed that Kuki-Zo people settling along the Indo-Myanmar border possess identity cards issued by both the countries (India and Myanmar) .

On what basis would the GoI count these persons who possess dual National identity card as an Indian or a Myanmarese, the union asked.

Reminding that delimitation was once cancelled in Manipur as the Census report of 2001 showed abnormal population growth in nine sub-divisions of hill districts, MMTU added that Purul in Senapati reported the highest population growth at 168.78 per cent.

Saying that South Indian States strongly opposed the delimitation of Assembly seats based on population size, it added that the child birth rate is low among Meeteis as the majority of Meetei families followed the family planning programme of the GoI.

The GoI is politically victimising the Meetei people by taking advantage of the low child birth rate, the MMTU claimed.

CSOs should not focus only on safeguarding Manipur but also be conscious of what the political demand of Meeteis should be , MMTU reasoned and added that people of Manipur should also understand the cause of the protracted armed conflict with India and the deprivation of 'our rights' by the GoI.

Stating that seeking ST status should be the topmost priority for the Meeteis so that the future of Meeteis could be protected constitutionally, MMTU sought support from the masses to the movement for ST status.

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