STDCM's demand for ST status :: Let Gol decide: DESAM to ATSUM
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 05 2019:
Conveying that it was shocked by the press note issued by ATSUM and subsequent sit-in-protest it organised against the demand for inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in ST list, DESAM has categorically told ATSUM to let the Government of India decide the matter.
It was known that ATSUM had been opposing the ST demand of the Meiteis but there was a feeling that in the changed circumstances, their stand would change but that is not so, DESAM remarked in a press statement.
After the statement of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that six tribes of Assam namely Koch-Rajbonshi, Tai-Ahom, Moran, Motok, Chutia and Tea Tribes would be declared as ST, Meitei will be the only original tribe or community in the entire Northeast India which will not be included among the ST.
This is nothing but a disservice to the Meitei community which deserves to be declared as such, DESAM said.
The above six tribes comprise more than a crore people and some of them are much more advanced as compared to the Meiteis.
In other words, Meiteis will be the only indigene which will not have the protection of the Constitution, it continued.
The opposition to the CAB is muted in the hills as they feel that under the extant laws these migrants cannot own land there legally.
So any addition will have to be accommodated in the valley region of just 2,338 sq.
km where the population density is already 730 per sq km as per 2011 Census.
That is the reason why the valley has been protesting vehemently against CAB, said the student body.
The premises of the objection to the demand as pointed out in the press note is based on false history concocted by Hindu chauvinists, which has been disproved and is no longer talked or written about, except by a few people with vested interest.
There is no caste in the Meitei system but salais which are very different.
It then asked as to why the hill people do not object to the declaration of the six communities of Assam as ST for which the relevant Bills are being brought in the current session of he Parliament.
"Job reservation of the hill brethrens must continue as we have no interest in grabbing what is not our due.
Our only interest is to have a constitutional safeguard", DESAM insisted.
There are Brahmin ST in Himachal Pradesh.
Time changes and past grandeur can no longer sustain and one has to think about the present and the future, not the past, it asserted.
"Whether we demean ourselves by declaring as ST or not is to be decided by us and not by others.
There is no condition that Hindu cannot be declared as ST.
Most of the six tribes being declared as ST are Hindus, so is the Negis in Himachal, Meena of Rajasthan, etc, it continued.
"The matter is not within the domain of the State Government.
Let the State Government make a recommendation with necessary documents and let the Government of India decide on the matter, when our tribal brethren can submit petitions with facts opposing the move while we will submit necessary records to buttress our claim.
This should be the most logical way rather than threatening everyone", DESAM asserted.
It went on to ask if ATSUM believe in their heart of hearts that the Meiteis are fit to be declared as ST and if they are trying to snuff the claim so that it does not reach the Government of India.
"DESAM will not be cowed down in its movement as this is the only way to obtain constitutional protection for the community to survive and we will not be guided by the illogical advice of others", it added.
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