STDCM launches poster campaign
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, April 04 2024:
Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee (STDCM) launched a poster campaign, titled 'Know Your Candidate's stand on Meetei ST Demand', urging the masses not to cast their votes for candidates who are not supporting the ST demand, at Khwairamband Market, here, on Thursday.
In this regard, STDCM joint secretary Moirangthem Na-okhamba said that the movement demanding the inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the ST list has been going on for over a decade.
However, as the state government is yet to forward recommendation for the same to the centre as proposed, the poster campaign will be carried out at various markets and other public places.
Despite being an indigenous community, Meetei/Meitei have been deprived of their constitutional rights as indigenous community due to being excluded from the ST list thereby necessitating launch of various movements to ensure some kind of constitutional safeguard for the indigenous community, and ensuring survival, he reasoned.
Expressing that the state government needs to forward the recommendation disregarding any difference, Naokhamba also stated that other communities have no valid reasons to raise objection as and when a community seeks constitutional safeguards from the central government in the same spirit that the Meetei/Meitei community has been upholding the interest of other community, he asserted.
Naokhamba then urged the masses to support only those candidates whose election manifestos include support for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the ST list.