Kukis not entitled ST status: Pankaj Nanda
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, December 27 2023:
Mahadev Sena president Pankaj Nanda and organisation's coordinator Sanjib Singh have strongly called for deleting Kuki from the ST list stating that Kukis being refugees have no right to avail any benefit under the Indian Constitution.
How could refugee Kukis get constitutional rights in India and why should not the indigenous Meeteis be granted ST status, Pankaj Nanda said in a press conference at New Delhi on Wednesday.
He said that Meeteis have the right to get ST status and accordingly Mahadev Sena will whole heartedly support the movement to get the Meeteis ST status.
Mahadev Sena is an organisation based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Political activist Maheshwar Thounaojam also took part in the press conference and said that more organisations are on the view that the Kukis do not merit recognition as ST.
According to Maheshwar, unnatural growth of Kuki population has been proven with census records from 1881 to 2011 while the Kuki clan Paites appeared in census of 1921 for the first time.
He also said other Kuki tribes figured in 2011 census for the first time and accordingly additional Kuki population in the state are all illegal immigrants.
A memorandum submitted by the Paite National Council to the Union home minister in the past had clearly mentioned that Paites came from Burma (now Myanmar) and settled in Manipur, he said and questioned as to why the Kukis should remain in the ST category.