MMTU lists steps to be taken up
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 27 2024: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has prioritised steps to be taken up against the backdrop of the nearly 10-month-old clash between indigenous Meitei community and Kukis.

It said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be implemented in Manipur to identify and deport illegal immigrants and members of all non-indigenous communities must be removed from the list of Scheduled Tribes and given no State benefits.

The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union emphasised and asserted that no delimitation activities must be taken up in Manipur before the NRC is updated and all illegal immigrants detected have been deported to their own countries.

The union said these in a media statement.

The MMTU said there have been unnatural growth of villages in Kuki dominated areas of Manipur in the last several decades due to illegal influx of people of the community from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Providing data to back the claim, MMTU said from 1969 to 2023, the number of new villages in Kuki dominated districts shot up astronomically to cross the 1500 mark.

During the same period, the number of new villages in Meitei and Naga dominated districts grew naturally, it said.

In Imphal West, only 20 new villages increased during 1969 and 2023 .

During the same period, only 45 new villages came into being in Imphal East.

In a similar natural trend, only 41 new villages surfaced in Bishnupur district, while Thoubal and Kakching districts saw only 45 new villages. Like in the Meitei dominated districts, Naga dominated districts of Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong saw an increase of only 14 (fourteen), 21 (twenty-one) and 30 (thirty) new villages respectively.

On the other hand, the same period saw a rapid and unnatural rise in the number of new villages in Kuki dominated districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal and Chandel.

As many as 560 new villages mushroomed during the period in Churachandpur district.

Kangpokpi district saw a sharp increase of 542 new villages.

Chandel saw 269 new villages and Tengnoupal saw an increase of 258 new villages.

This unnatural increase in the number of new villages points to the large-scale influx of illegal Kuki-Zo people from Bangladesh and Myanmar, said MMTU.

The union further emphasised that the Kuki community in Manipur is still practising chieftainship against the law.

This outdated law is dictatorial and must be abolished completely in tune with the democratic principles, it added.

MMTU asserted that the system of chieftainship has also helped settle illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

"As the chieftainship system mandates that each and every son of a Kuki chief should become chief, new villages are created and these villages become destinations for the people of the community who immigrated illegally from Bangladesh and Myanmar," said MMTU.

The illegal influx of people from Bangladesh and Myanmar has resulted in the formation of many militant outfits.

While India is playing geopolitics to face the China threat, narco-terrorism has found its roots in Manipur, it added.

While the chieftainship among the Kukis still flourishes in Manipur, this system was abolished in Mizoram and Assam in 1954 .

While the chieftainship has been replaced with the Panchayati Raj system in Tripura, Manipur's Hill Area Committee took a decision to abolish the system in 1967 .

On January 10, 1967, the State Assembly took a resolution to completely abolish the system.

Later, on June 14, 1967, the then President of India gave his assent to abolish the chieftainship system, and the same was notified by a Gazette published on June 20 .

The increase in the number of people due to illegal influx and new villages that have mushroomed over several decades has driven away original Naga settlers from various districts in the hills.

While the number of Kuki villages grew, the Nagas have become minorities, said MMTU, citing Moreh and Kangpokpi as concrete examples.

Further, the non-indigenous Kuki-Zo people have been given the Scheduled Tribe status and they are enjoying all the benefits the Nagas should have gotten.

Moreover, the benefits Meiteis should have gotten as a Scheduled Tribe are being enjoyed by the Kuki-Zo people since the last 73 years, said MMTU.

It asserted that the Kuki-Zo, with an objective to establish their own homeland or Zalengam, have attacked the indigenous communities of Manipur.

In such a setting, the National Register of Citizens is a must to identify illegal immigrants and deport them.

Further, as non-indigenous community, they should be removed from the list of the STs immediately.

Non-indigenous people shouldn't be allowed to enjoy benefits given by the State to its people, said MMTU.

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