Missing the ST bus : Follies of the past ‘Sleeping’ over 2013 communique

A tribal group, in fact a hill tribe but missed the bus to be included in Scheduled list of the tribal groups and according to the ST for Meiteis advocates this is one of the primary reasons why the Meiteis today stare at a bleak future with no Constitutional protection. It was arrogance and ignorance that made the Meitei community sit out of the busload of people to be included in the ST list but this should be no reason why history cannot be revisited and why the case of the Meiteis to be included in the ST list cannot be raised now. First the Congress failed to act when the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs sought a report, seeking to know the ethnographic and socio-economic status of the Meiteis back in 2013. This was after the Congress had returned to power for its third consecutive term in power in Manipur, after a stupendous show in the 2012 Assembly polls bagging 42 out of the 60 Assembly seats. The matter was kept under hold but as reports of the Centre seeking the report came to the public domain, the ST for Meiteis demand started doing the round with renewed vigour. Led by the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur and backed by a people who had woken up to the reality, the demand saw a renewed vigour from 2014/2015 onwards and along the way came other organisations such as the Meetei/Meitei Tribe Union (MMTU) and World Meetei Council (WMC). The ST for Meiteis demand centred around the call that the State Government send the needed report to the Centre. Just like the Congress, the BJP led Government too thought it wiser to ‘ignore’ the matter compelling the MMTU to move the High Court of Manipur. The ruling of the High Court, which has since been set aside by the Supreme Court, merely asked the State Government to send the report as sought by the Centre, but this did not stop the All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur from staging the now infamous Tribal Solidarity March on May 3, 2023. What happened after the March is there for all to see and Manipur is still reeling from the match stick that was lit at Torbung and Churachandpur back then. Coming back to the ST demand for the Meiteis, everyone knows it is not the job of the Judiciary to decide whether Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST category or not but Parliament, that too after a long process. Let Parliament decide whether the Meitei community fits the bill to be included in the ST list or not, but it stands that the Meiteis continue to exhibit the characteristics which are associated with any tribal group. It is only the Meiteis in Manipur which continue to set aside a celebration widely known as Lai Haraoba, a festival in which offerings and prayers are offered to the sylvan deities. Even today, Meiteis continue to exhibit tribal characteristics in worshipping a deity believed to guard the homestead and every Meitei household has a special place reserved for Sanamahi.
Opponents to the ST for Meiteis demand have unfailingly pointed out that the said community is included in the Other Backward Class and there are some Meiteis who have been tagged Scheduled Castes. This is a fact but to use this as an excuse to oppose the ST demand would amount to missing the woods for the trees. The OBC category comes with its Creamy and Non- Creamy layer classification. The inclusion in the SC list offers no protection over the ancestral land of the people. In fact the Imphal valley which constitutes only 10 percent of the geographical area of Manipur is open to all, while the hills are strictly off limits for the Meiteis. This is just drawing up the reality and should not be misinterpreted as the Meiteis vying land in the hills, but the need to protect the land of the Meiteis should never be overlooked. It cannot be a case of ‘My land is protected, yours is not but you cannot seek protection.’ This is where the need to look for internal arrangements arises. Likewise internal arrangements in job and admission reservations can always be worked out in so far as Manipur is concerned and focus should be at the pan India level. If the Meena community of Rajasthan can be included in the ST list while the same community in other States such as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have been tagged as OBCs, it is hard to believe why the Meiteis should not be included in the ST list. Ultimately, let Parliament decide, but first send the report which has been pending since 2013.