STDCM meets MPCC president Meghachandra
MTU vindicates ST demand
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 18 2023: After their meeting with former Chief Minister and CLP leader Okram Ibobi yesterday, a team of the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) today called on Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president K Meghachandra and submitted a memorandum.

Meanwhile, the Meitei Tribe Union (MTU) has asserted that the Meiteis fulfil all the criteria to be categorised as a Scheduled Tribe.

Interacting with the visiting STDCM team at his Babupara quarters today, MLA K Meghachandra said that he, as an MLA, supports the demand for enlisting Meitei/Meetei in the ST category.

But the issue has not been studied from the perspective of a political party.

If the issue should be discussed at the level of the party, it would be done in a very democratic manner, Meghachandra said.

He asserted that it is the Government which should decide the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the demand.

Speaking to media persons at Manipur Press Club today, MTU secretary Mutum Churamani Meitei claimed that the MTU collected and submitted a number of documents to the Prime Minister, Union Ministers concerned, the Governor and the Chief Minister during the past five/six years which justified the demand for granting ST status to Meitei/Meetei.

During the British colonial period, Meitei was recognised as a tribe.

It was only after 1950 that Manipur was placed in the General category when India had achieved independence and Manipur had been merged into the Indian Union, Churamani said.

He went on to claim that the Meiteis fulfil all the five criteria laid down for classification of a particular community as ST under the Constitution of India.

The movement for enlistment of Meitei/Meetei in the ST category started around 2012.From 2013 onward, many CSOs started sending memoranda and documents to the Central Government in pursuit of the same demand, he said.

Every section of the people are of the opinion that Meitei/Meetei ought to be granted ST status, he claimed.

The MTU submitted a socio-economic survey report to the Chief Minister on January 12, 2022."We don't expect the State Government to send the particular report to the Centre in toto but we are hopeful that the same report would be incorporated when the State Government sends necessary documents to the Centre", Churamani said.

The MTU submitted a memorandum to the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary and the Assembly Secretary on January 2 this year, he said.

Noting that the third session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly has been scheduled to commence from February 3, the MTU secretary said that the issue would be tabled in the State Assembly if the same issue is mentioned in the Governor's address.

There will be no future for the Meitei community if they are not granted ST status, he said.

He said that the people's aspiration may be fulfilled if the issue is tabled during the forthcoming session of the State Assembly.

If the State Government chooses to remain indifferent to the issue even after a vast majority of the people have declared that the particular demand is quite legitimate, it would be nothing less than blatant suppression of fundamental rights of a large section of people, he continued.

No vigorous agitation has been launched so far in pursuit of the demand for enlistment of Meitei/Meetei in the ST category.

In case there is a proposal to launch vigorous modes of agitation, the MTU will join the movement in full force and it will never turn its back until the people's aspiration is fulfilled, he said.

The State Government must understand the grim situation facing the Meitei community and ensure that the Governor's address reflects the issue so that the State Assembly can take a favourable resolution, he added.

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