Why Meitei Should Not Be Scheduled as Tribe
- Part 2 -

Kulajit Maisnam *

Peoples' Convention on 'Scheduled Tribe Status In Manipur' at Iboyaima Shanglen on 14 May 2016 :: Pix - Shankar Khamgembam

The Demand Committee asserts that Meiteis will 'control' India if scheduled as Tribe. The Committee needs a serious understanding of what is bureaucracy and where it figures out in the polity of a nation-state. The move is not going to 'control' India by the 'Meiteis' (ironically the Demand Committee whose aim is to establish 'equality' among the citizens of Manipur does not celebrate presence of highlanders in Indian bureaucracy or even at the state level) by penetrating into bureaucracy, rather it is going to reinforce and strengthen hegemonic 'control' over highlanders by Meiteis (the inequitable share in state assembly and bureaucracy will be self-evident).

By which the Demand committee is solely responsible, not the larger Meitei society. For the very greed of these few Meitei who wants to pave a 'smooth' 'career' path for their already 'meritorious' child, these Meitei elites are putting the state into another turmoil rather than mending hill-valley differences and antagonism by whitewashing the mass with unrealistic 'promises', hence the 'promises' needs a serious observation.

Hill-Valley divide will go away if Manipur is declared as tribal state has been the most 'catchy' promise made by the Demand Committee. The claim has no objectivity in itself. It seems that the Committee has no serious clue of what divides the hill and valley and which divide they are going to bridge and how. Does it mean in the social sense or the political sense? Or in a geographical sense? If it is in the geographical sense, are you going to elevate the valley to make it into mountains? Or flatten the mountains to turn it into a valley? Which will be more cost effective I leave it to the Committee.

Let's pick up the social 'differences' and 'divisions', affirmative actions are meant for socio-economic upliftment of the 'disadvantaged' not to push them further into fringes. Meiteis who take pride in their 2000 old 'civilisation', might be the 'disadvantaged' in relation to mainland Indians but the Demand Committee must remember the highlanders are more 'disadvantaged' in relation to the mainland Indians and in relation to Meiteis. These highlanders are historically socially 'outcasted', 'orchestrated' for being non hindu by the Meiteis. Even some of them were brought into the valley as slaves to the Monarch. The genesis of heretical discriminatory outlooks and practices might be because of the evilest religion on earth: Hinduism, but has become more of a day to day social practice where one has ingrained those discriminatory outlooks in the psyche of the larger Meitei populace.

The hierarchy has been acquired from the long socio-historical process, constitutionally tagging Meiteis as 'tribe' will never wipe the identity of being a 'Meitei' and its social relations with the highlanders. You are still a Meitei to the highlanders, they will not look at you as one of them: a tribe, which is just a mere categorisation for political and administrative purposes in India. Even in the central India the 'Scheduled as Tribe' calls themselves and by others collectively as 'adivasis' and the perceived identities of the 'self' in relations to the 'others' does not fade away till today.

What I am trying to say is that the acquired identity form a long socio-political process is not going to go away and at the same time, how the highlanders perceive Meiteis and how they attribute identitie(s) to the Meiteis is also from the same or parallely different long socio-political processes that Manipur has gone through till now, is not going to fade right away. This status quo cannot be easily challenged. And importantly cannot be challenged by Meitei merely scheduling as tribe. A social 'mingling' probably would. When highlanders uplift their economic and professional status, Interestingly Meiteis do give respect of his/her new acquired status 'outwardly'. But still in an 'insidious' way Meiteis still consider them 'Hao Macha'. The etymology of the word 'Hao' might be very 'neutral' but what is important today is that the meaning has changed and attached to the word are immensely derogatory expressions. The Committee has no moral authority to attribute 'neutrality' to the term. What is morally legit is what the highlanders think, perceive and react when Meiteis call them Hao, Hao-Macha, Haothu etc etc.

The propertied creamy section of the Meitei society with its feudalistic mindset does not want these 'Hao-Macha' to 'command' them in professional spaces, thus have the urge to become 'commander' which will satisfy their paternalistic egos. By swallowing up the professional opportunities of the highlanders the Committee is engineering a situation where the highlanders do not even get the 'outward' respect they enjoy.

What about the political division? The demand committee has not rolled out any such operational plans till now. Probably they do not have, or maybe they also know that by ST status there cannot be any democratic radical political restructuring apart form a coercive 'unison'. Political division need not be removed by 'unification' but it can be addressed by distribution of power. The highlanders have been governing themselves within their own organic polity parallely with the 'glorious' two thousand years old Meitei 'civilisation'. (Mind you having a 2000 written history does not mean that these highlanders are people without history. It is just a matter of how knowledge of the past is stored).

And the then pre-colonial relation between them and the Meiteis is of truce and alliances and sometimes of subjugation. Now the anarchic arrangement of the geo-political region Manipur was dismantled by modern nation-state leading to a situation where even arrangement of a just federation is doubtful. I am more doubtful about the arrangement which can be made under a scheduled state looking into the demographic context of Manipur and the larger political framework of India. If Administration is 'unified' the division will go away is the thesis the Demand Committee subscribes to of which the highlanders will fight tooth and nail. As mentioned in the beginning the political framework India has given to us breeds majoitainism (they regret Manipur having two members of parliaments but is blind to the same representation system in Manipur) without addressing these core issues there cannot be a cohesive Manipur 'state'. The issues in Manipur are of unequal power sharing among the nationalities. When the hills are demanding more autonomy is committee is talking of 'unified administration'?

Land has been central to hill valley conflict, particularly with the Chin-Kuki groups and Meiteis mainly because of the demographic arrangements between these two communities (what adjoins to the Meitei areas are the Chin-Kuki groups, which has its history of such demographic arrangements). The most contentious of all is the MLR and LR 1960 which has gone through many amendments, the latest being the seventh amendment bill in 2015 as part of ILPS which is pending and which has become the bone of contention among the highlanders especially the Chin-Kuki groups.

The intentions of the state to bring a uniformity in distribution of land throughout the State has been vehemently opposed by the highlanders from the beginning owing to the differences in in the traditional land ownership pattern. What will be the arrangement of land relations under the proposed Tribal State? The arguments of geographically small but having the maximum population ratio valley, is accommodating the highlanders and is the opposite in highlands has been central to the ongoing debate. And Meiteis will be able to settle in highlands has been another 'catchy' promise if they are scheduled as tribe. A slight coercive move to have a 'uniform' land law will have a serious catastrophe.

Uniformity in an heterogeneous society will be hegemonic and undemocratic. It is not the uniformity which is required but accepting and appreciating differences to build a harmonious and cohesive society. Remember Rome was not build on a day. Nation building is a process. It takes time, and has to build democratically not by coercion. One of the best ways to bring harmony and cohesiveness is establishing a kinship relationship of which I have a doubt that among the feudal chauvinist members of the Demand Committee there will be no one who will agree to inter community marriages, especially allowing their meritorious 'daughters' to marry a highlander (in a patrilineal setup incoming of women of different caste/tribe/race is comparatively accepted, which is also very minimal among the Meiteis). As in the case of Indian caste system as inter caste marriage has been suggested to end caste system in India, and no affirmative actions has till now radically challenged the caste practice also. Inter community marriage is one good way as compared to 'ST status' to bring the so called 'emotional integrity'.

Coming to the point of 'protecting' Meitei Land, from whom the Meitei land is going to be protected? From the highlanders? Or from the 'encroachment' by the Maynags? Protection of land by the constitution of India is a deceit. There is enough constitutional 'leeway' to grab land and resources. Unfortunately, the most plundered areas have been the scheduled tribe areas of India. Both in scheduled tribe status and Protection of Manipur People's Bill 2015 the land and resources cannot be protected from plundering in the name of 'larger national interest' (at least in PMP 2015 you have the provision of regulating migrants).

Land and resource plundering is guided by the current political economy of India and rules/laws are set accordingly. Even looking into Manipur, the state is 'borrowing' to develop 'infrastructure' by displacing population (even in the hills). You borrow money to displace people is the new 'development'. Who and how one will pay the debt? From whom again the fund is going to be collected to repay? Of course by downsizing of government sectors, and again who will suffer? The only thing left one can seek is equitable share from exploitation of resources (never think this is going to happen in current political economy of India). You might get rid of the 'shabby' mayangs from Manipur but you cannot get rid of the suited and booted mayangs controlling the economy for whose the Union of India operates by becoming Scheduled Tribe or by just having a mere regulation like PMP 2015.

It is being said that The ILPS is rejected by the highlanders, yes it is true, but the prime question is when and where has the Highlanders endorsed the Meitei demand for ST? Let me forcefully reiterate again that the 'promises' made by the Demand Committee has no possibilities of institutionalising it in Manipur by Meiteis becoming ST or announcing Manipur as tribal state apart from the educational and professional opportunities to the few Meitei elite sections.

The Demand Committee has not dealt properly with certain nuances and intricacies of their 'promises' nor rolled out a proper operational schemas and viability of their 'promises' which is mutually acceptable and agreeable to 'everyone' (which I am sure the committee does not have). Let us not fool our self by the rhetoric of these chauvinist. Our state, our society is being put into a colosseum by a few elite section of Meiteis for their greed, where Delhi will enjoy the scene, a spectre no one wants. The Pan-Manipur movement for democracy is beyond the 'piecemeal solutions'.

Concluded....