Public meet at Koirengei endorses ST demand for Meiteis STDCM takes campaign to Yaingangpokpi

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 31: A public meeting held today at Koirengei has endorsed the demand for enlistment of Meitei/Meetei in the Scheduled Tribe category under the Constitution of India.
The public meeting held at Koirengei Bazar Development Committee Community was jointly organised by KWYC, KBDC, KBNM and STDCM and it was attended by representatives of around 20 local clubs and 20 Meira Groups of Koirengei and surrounding localities.
Speaking to media persons by the sideline of the public meeting, Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) general secretary K Bhogendrajit said that they have so far met 34 Ministers/MLAs as a part of the ongoing movement to get Meitei/Meetei enlisted in the ST category.
He said that they would carry on their campaign and meet other MLAs/Ministers on the issue.
In the meantime, local clubs and Meira Paibi groups have been staging different forms of protest demonstration including human chains and sit-ins urging the State Government to send the requisite recommendation and documents to the Central Government.
K Bhogendrajit appealed to the State Government to take up necessary action without any further delay to fulfil the people’s demand for enlistment of Meitei/Meetei in the ST category.
According to the STDCM general secretary, around 20 local clubs and 20 Meira Paibi groups of Koirengei, Nillakuthi, Tingri and surrounding areas pledged unstinted support to the STDCM’s movement during the public meeting held today.
The demand for granting ST status to Meitei/Meetei does not require introduction of any Bill in the State Assembly. It only needs approval of the State Cabinet before sending a recommendation to the Central Government, Bhogendrajit said.
“It only requires the State Cabinet to take a decision and forward it to the Central Government along with the ethnographic and socio-economic report of Meitei/Meetei”, he asserted.
There is no harm if the State Government wishes to table the issue in the State Assembly, the STDCM general secretary said.
The only wish for STDCM is sending the requisite recommendation and documents to the Central Government and granting of ST status to Meitei/Meetei at the earliest possible time, he added.  
The public meeting was followed by a mass rally in the course of which many slogans were raised demanding enlistment of Meitei/Meetei in the ST category without any further delay.
On the other hand, a demonstration was staged today at Yaingangpokpi Bazar under the aegis of the STDCM and the Yaingangpokpi Village Committee Bazar Board.
The demonstration urged the State Government to do the needful to get Meitei/Meetei enlisted in the ST category.
One of the participants decried that the State Government never fulfils any public demand, even if the demand is quite reasonable, until and unless the public agitation becomes violent.