Opposing ST demand: an insulated world view not crossing Sekmai
- Part 2 -

Kh Ibomcha *

Peoples' Convention on 'ST Status In Manipur' at Iboyaima Shanglen on 14th May 2016 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

'We were tribe and will remain a tribe' is the key rallying point on which STDCM frames its demand to get Meitei included in ST list of Indian constitution. But this demand put up by STDC was spewed out by Anti-STs Campaigners saying that Tribal society is a temporary society fated to be died out with contemporaneousness in the same line as defined by ILO convention No.107 of 1957.

But they don't seem to grasp the fact that this definition given by ILO was nixed by several international communities saying it promotes assimilationist approach. So to replace the definition with a new one, in 1988 and 1989, the ILO drafted a new convention—ILO convention No.189— re-defining tribes as permanent society.

I wonder why they resort to such definition as already spewed out by peoples from all over the world in the light of its assimilationist proclivity. Do they really want us being assimilated into a bigger social fabric that can lead us to a cataclysmic situation which we often call extinction? If it is the case, now is the time to use your grey cells.

Now I am going to refer to one of the most sarcastic press statement I ever came across in my life which was handed out by a group opposing ST demand. In that statement it wrote, "Tribal Haibasi Phee Thongdana Leiba Amadi Adumna Leiba Pamba Kangbuni".

Sizing up the phrase within the quotation, what one can nakedly see is their attitude towards 'chingmees'. They might have chanted heavily romantic slogans like 'we are one' in different rallies organized by them in last few decades playacting as if they care a lot about them, but in their inner core they are still the same people thinking chingmee as 'hanthaba jat'.

At the end of the day, such politically loaded and ideologically colored mindset of Meiteis are supported by the powerful class of people who are riding BOLERO and living in palatial mansions always thinking to lord it over other communities despite playacting as egalitarians. That may be why they don't like to stand where 'chingmee' stands often dubbing it as 'puwari maning hanba'.

Chewing over prognosticative impacts of their supercilious idea of tribe on the psyches of hill-settlers who have already been categorized as ST in Indian constitution, I cannot help but think that they are implicitly calculating to widen the divide between hills and valley pretending as if they are protecting hill interest.

From the perspective of the adherents of Anti-ST, pro-ST's demand to include Meitei in ST has been taken as an incorrect movement having heavy potentials to bring about more bloodshed between 'ching' and 'tam'. If I recall correctly, this was what Arjun Tenheiba—an adherent of anti-ST—had stated in a press statement published by different Imphal-based media houses.

This is how they sell threat in our psyches in order to make the idea of living with 'ching' enjoying equal socio-political status something not only impossible but also unthinkable. In every sense of the word, it is nothing less than saying 'hi man, don't dare to live with highlanders, they are sucking your blood'. Does it sound logical? NO, of course not, it is but disgusting—height of madness.

Trying to make people see them as a group of people loaded with loads of concern for highlanders, they—the Anti-ST group— keep saying that this movement is soon bringing about a bloodshed and will absolutely cut down the already severely warped mythical hill-valley relation.

They also dub the idea of including meitei in ST list as a conspiracy that expedites balkanization of Manipur, while ground reality says that it is meitei's being non-tribal status that negated us from the idea of NE as tribal region as evidently shown during last year's several months' long ILP movement.

If you people are so concerned about Ching-tam relation and do not like to take up any step that may hurt their feelings, why are you continuing ILP movement that set Churchandpur on flame killing nine highlanders including a boy less than 12 years old?

I wonder, what makes you forget that the bodies of the nine martyrs (as they call themselves) are still lying in the mortuary of Churchandpur District Hospital for the last eight months demanding Manipur government to withdraw the three controversial bills?

If you read Sangai Express's May 8, 2016 edition, you might have seen how CCpur JAC berated 42-hour state-wide public curfew recently imposed by JCILPS demanding to convert three Bills into acts. Now is the time to understand what hill settlers want to say with the sentence 'the state wide curfew had absolutely no impact on any part of the tribal territories that account for about 90 percent of present Manipur' which was a part of the statement made by joint action committee against anti-tribal bills.

Now there is a question for you: Is there no possibility of bringing about a bloodshed between 'ching' and 'tam' by rekindling ILP movement?' I know you will have no answer—always self-defeating, because your argument never bases on truth. You are opposing ST movement for the sake of opposition, not for justice or truth as someone expressed on Facebook.

Taking notes of Anti-ST campaigner's mercurial views, now one will see how their arguments fall flat as they are neither there nor here in the course of the whole argument. They always put themselves in a contradictory position where they say one thing and do the other, just opposite to what they said.

Before I wind up with this write up, on behalf of pro-ST, I would like to spell out misleading ideas they injected into our poor people saying that being included in ST list has nothing to do with protection of our land, or rather our territorial identity.

While trying to understand about protection of our territorial integrity, we can refer to article 19 of Indian constitution. In sub clause (d) of 19(1) it writes that all citizens of India have the right to move freely throughout the territory of India and in sub clause (e) of the same article you will find it saying that all citizens of India have the right to reside and settle any part of the territory of India. But in clause (5) of the article says that there will be restriction of exercising any of the rights conferred by the sub clauses (d) and (e) in the interests of any scheduled tribe.

Now you may have clearly understood that the moment you become scheduled tribe your land is also protected becoming scheduled area. Thus by getting ourselves listed in ST we can protect the land where we settle as chingmees protect the land where they live. In this way we the people of Kangleipak, both chingmee and Tamee, can protect the whole Manipur from the onslaught of other people we call 'mayang'.

My appeal to anti-ST campaigner is 'please go beyond Sekmai and know the reality that people living there at hills are also our own people—Eikhoi gi Ichil Inaosing. Only chanting "chingmee tamee iching inao ni' won't bring anything positive. Be out of the maze and locate yourselves where 'chingmees' are if you really think that we are 'Ichin Inao".

Concluded...