MMTU prods MPs to raise 3 questions in Parliament
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 25 2026: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has urged the three Members of Parliament elected from Manipur to raise three issues of Manipur in the Parliament.

Through a statement issued to the press, the MMTU asked the MPs to question the Government of India on the status of the State Government's decisions taken in 2018, 2023 and 2024 to remove Any Kuki Tribes (AKT) from the ST list of Manipur which were sent to the Registrar General of India.

It urged the MPs to question the Government of India why no visible action has been take up yet to abolish the Kuki chieftainship in Manipur under the Kuki Chieftainship Act (The Manipur Hill Areas Acquisition of Chiefs' Rights Act, 1967) .

The third question the MMTU sought to ask through the MPs is, what measures have been taken to check illegal immigration from neighbouring countries, particularly Myanmar and whether there is any plan to implement NRC in Manipur.

According to the MMTU's statement, 27 tribes were named in the ST list of Manipur published in 1951 along with the terms 'Any Kuki', 'Any Lushai' and 'Any Naga' but these terms were completely removed in 1956 after enquiry by the Kaka Kalelkar Commission.

Two more tribes were added in 1956 and the list grew to 29 .

Kukis started demanding for re-insertion of the term 'Any Kuki' in the ST list of Manipur after the Kuki-Naga conflict of 1992-93 .

This move of the Kukis was driven by an intention to shelter and protect illegal immigrants from Myanmar, the MMTU said.

Without bothering to study which communities constitute Any Kuki Tribes, the State Government agreed to re-insert this highly vague and loose term in the ST list in 2003. This decision of the State Government was vehemently protested by the Thadou and other indigenous communities of the State.

The State Government decided to withdraw the decision of 2003 and adopted a resolution to remove AKT from the ST list of Manipur, three times in 2018, 2023 and 2024, and the same resolution was sent to the Registrar General of India.

However, the Government of India has not taken up any action on the State Government's resolution till date.

At present, 34 communities are named in the ST list of Manipur and no ethnography was sent when any of these communities were granted ST status.

But the Government of India has been demanding an ethnography report of Meiteis as a prerequisite for initiating the process of enlisting the community in ST category, and thus the Government of India has been sidestepping the Meitei community's demand for ST status, the MMTU decried.

It is the Kuki chieftainship right which has been enabling illegal immigrants from Myanmar to come and settle in Manipur, MMTU asserted.

The Manipur Legislative Assembly passed a resolution on January 10, 1967 to abolish the Kuki chieftainship right.

After the Assembly resolution was approved by the President of India, a gazette notification was published on January 28, 1967 in this regard.

Even though the Kuki chieftainship right was officially abolished way back in 1967, this traditional practice which is highly feudalistic and defies the very foundation of democracy remains in force till today, the MMTU said.

Kuki chieftainship was abolished in Mizoram in 1954 and it was replaced by Panchayati Raj in Tripura in 1992, it said.

Under the Kuki chieftainship, every son of a Kuki chief must be a village chief.

In order to make room for each son to become chiefs, Kukis set up new villages for each son of the village chief.

In order to populate these new villages, large numbers of people from Myanmar are facilitated to come and settle in Manipur.

This has caused severe demographic imbalance in Manipur, the MMTU asserted.

The issue of illegal immigration is one common major challenge to all the indigenous people of Manipur, it pointed out.

Even though the Government of India made a bold declaration that the country will not be allowed to become a dharamsala of immigrants, no visible action has been initiated in Manipur against the incessant influx of illegal immigrants, it decried.

It also questioned the Government of India's silence to the emergence of many new villages even after 2500 new villages have been already detected.

The MMTU decried that the Government of India has not given any reply to the popular demands for detection of illegal immigrants and implementation of NRC in Manipur.

Both the Government of India and the State Government have been following a policy of dividing Manipur into hills and valley.

Under the Manipur Union Territory Act 1963, hills and valley constitute the geographical area of Manipur in the ratio of 50:50 .

However, the 27th amendment of the North Eastern Reorganisation Act 1971 and passage of Article 371(C) sowed seeds of discord between hill people and plain people.

Under Article 371(C), 92 per cent of the geographical area of Manipur was classified as hills and the remaining 8 per cent as valley, it said.

Instead of amending or withdrawing this outrageous Act, the Government reaffirmed it in 2008, the MMTU continued.

It urged the MPs and MLAs to raise these key issues at appropriate forums and work collectively by keeping aside all differences.

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