MMTU pledges to stay away from all elections
Send report as sought demand raised
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 12 2024: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has decided to stay away from all elections until the State Government sends the recommendation which the Centre has been seeking for over a decade to consider enlistment of Meetei/Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list of the Constitution.

MMTU, in a statement, said that they reached the decision to not take part in any election and refrain from casting votes after consulting with like-minded people in the interest of the future of the Meetei/Meitei people.

Saying that they don't have the right to stop any election and there is no need to launch a campaign to refrain from exercising their franchise, MMTU continued that there, however, is no point in choosing a leader or a representative in a place where the voice of the citizens is not respected.

The Union further said that the demand to add Meetei/Meitei in the ST list of the Constitution under Article 342 (1) has been going on for nearly 12 years but no recommendation has been sent by the State Government as of yet.

The previous Governments also didn't send the recommendation which the Centre has been seeking since 2013 to verify whether Meetei/Meitei can be added in the ST list.

Recounting that MMTU filed a writ petition to the Manipur High Court in March last year as the successive State Governments didn't take up any initiative pertaining to the ST status demand by the Meetei/Meitei, the Union maintained that the State Government sought one year time for sending the recommendation to the Centre in response to the writ petition and the same was accepted by the High Court.

The one year period which the State Government was given, however, will expire on March 26 but the recommendation hasn't been sent as of yet, the Union said.

Unfortunately, some people blamed the High Court's order which directed the State Government to send the recommendation for the violence besieging Manipur since May 3 last year, the MMTU added.

MMTU is well acquainted with the fact that a Court cannot decide which communities can be given ST status but some people seem to forget that judiciary is the third pillar of a democracy, the Union said.

No community has the right to stop Meetei/Meitei from seeking ST status and difference in opinion, if any, can always be discussed, MMTU added.

What the Meetei/Meitei have been demanding is their democratic right and it doesn't intend to rob the right of others, MMTU said and added that Meetei/Meitei are majority only on paper.

The Central and State Government should compensate the Meetei/Meitei for robbing their right for the last 73 years or so, the Union added.

Saying that the mass missed call campaign carried out as part of the movement to add Meetei/Meitei in the ST list was supported by over nine lakh people, MMTU added that they have submitted all requisite documents pertaining to the ST demand to the relevant authorities and what is left is only for the State Government to send the socio economic and ethnographic report of the ethnic group to the Centre along with the recommendation.

Some MLAs sought the attention of the House on the demand to give Constitutional safeguard to Meetei/Meitei in the form of ST status in the recent Assembly session but there wasn't any reply from the legislators of the ruling party and the same was unfortunate, MMTU added.

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