ST issue: Time to consult and convince tribal groups
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 21, 2023 -

WHILE it is obvious that tribal organisations would remonstrate, legally or through any other means possible, against the ruling of the High Court of Manipur that the state government should consider the demand for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list and send the relevant recommendation to the ministry concerned, Meetei organisations leading the movement shall have to reach out and prevail upon the detractors so as to make it clear that the primary objective of the demand is for constitutional safeguard of all the indigenes and not only to enjoy the seat reservation policy as interpreted by some tribal bodies and leaders.

Whether it was the movement for implementing the Inner Line Permit system or the agitations in pursuance of the demand for repealing the pro-military AFSPA 1959, certain tribal organisations made it a point to either raise objections or remained aloof under the perception that the public uprisings were centred on promoting interests of the Meetei people, unmindful of the fact that the no outsider can buy the land of the tribals unlike that of the majority community's.

Though the movements were aimed at ensuring constitutional safeguard due to rapid demographic changes, there had been instances when advocates of tribal rights projected the protests as fallout of the changing power dynamics in the Manipuri social structure, including the hypothesis that the Meeteis, in-spite of being the most powerful and culturally rich community in the plains and has a strong grip on the levers of power in the state, are apprehensive of gradual improvement in the status of the tribal communities.

When the then O Ibobi government ceded to the demand for introducing the ILP Bill, there were comments that the establishment was overtly sympathetic towards the aspiration of the Meetei community only not to mention of the violent protest in Churachandpur district that led to torching of houses of a handful of MLAs and an MP.

Now that the ILP has been brought back by the Union government and the same demand is being pursued in Meghalaya, it could be safely stated that the apprehension felt by majority community due to ceaseless influx of outsiders stands validated. Similar to the outcries or lukewarm response during the heydays of the ILP movement, the decree issued on March 27 by acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Manipur with regard to a writ petition filed by eight members of Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union pertaining to the demand for granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Meetei/Meitei community wouldn't be acceptable to some tribal organisations.

As such, with the court on their side, the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM), which has been spearheading the demand, the petitioner Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union and any other organisations endorsing the demand shall have to shoulder the responsibility of impressing upon the tribal stakeholders that inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the ST category, if any, is not aimed at usurping the reservation rights of the tribal.

Moreover, it is equally important to explain that the majority community wouldn't oppose in case tribal leaders and organisations approach the court or the state government for upholding the existing reservation policy for the tribal communities even after the Meetei community gets the ST status, as is the practice in neighbouring Nagaland where seats for recruitment and admission are reserved on the basis of population of the native tribes.