In demand for ST status for Meiteis/Meeteis STDCM lines up action plan

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jul 23 : Upping the demand for Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei/Meetei community the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) has urged the State Government to send the requisite recommendation before trains connect Imphal with major cities of India.
A press release issued by STDCM also appealed to the people of Manipur to send suggestions for holding feasible protests demanding inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the ST list by conforming to the SOPs for COVID-19 as waiting for the pandemic to end is no  longer viable.
The State Government, apart from the said recommendation, is also yet to send the reports of ethnographic and socio-economic survey for granting ST status to Meitei/Meetei, it added.
Saying that granting ST status is the only measure to protect the ethnic identity of Meetei/Meitei, the STDCM urged all concerned to include Meitei/Meetei in the ST list before Imphal is put on the railway map of India.
It may be mentioned that over 30  STDCM volunteers, as a part of its 'No ST Status, No Rail Line’ campaign, had on September 6, 2019 held a picketing protest at the railway office of MSRTC complex during which 19 protesters were detained by Imphal West police.
Saying that the railway project being taken up on Imphal-Jiribam road is progressing fast and it would reach Imphal anytime, the STDCM added that the inflow of people from mainland India will also increase sharply with the advent of railway service in Manipur.
If the Meetei/Meetei are not given a Constitutional safeguard to protect its identity, the arrival of train will do more harm than good to the  Meetei/Meetei, who inhabit the valley of Manipur, the committee cautioned.
Saying that intellectuals seldom speak about the importance of granting ST status to Meetei/Meetei while sharing their views on the arrival of trains in Manipur, the committee  asked what is the point of development if there are no indigenous people to witness or appreciate it.
Continuing that Jiribam is today overwhelmed by outsiders to the extent that a non local has even contested the Assembly elections due to absence of Constitutional safeguard, the STDCM added that Imphal too will  face a similar fate as that of Jiribam if Meetei/Meetei is not given ST status.