Exposing the lies of the May 3 March Focusing on ST demand
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The then Congress Government slept over it. So too did the BJP led Government at Imphal. It was in 2013 that the Union Tribal Ministry wrote to the State Government to send the needed socio-economic and ethnographic report of the Meitei community so that the demand that this community be included in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution of India could be studied and discussed. For reasons best known to the Congress led Government, the report from the Centre was quietly shoved under the carpet and the BJP led Government took a cue from its predecessor and followed suit. This is where one is left wondering what difference is there between the two parties, in so far as protecting the rights of the Meitei people is concerned. So after a lot of canvassing, public rallies and after taking the matter to the consciousness of the people, the Meetei/Meitei Tribe Union took the matter to the High Court of Manipur. The MMTU knows that it is not the job of the Judiciary to decide which community fits the bill to be included in the ST list and so its prayer was more or less to direct the State Government to send the report sought by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry. And this was what the High Court directed the State Government to do. Submit the report, was the instruction to the State Government and not anything to do with either the Meiteis should be included in the ST list or not. However as things have unfolded, not everyone was ready to take the ruling of the Court on merit and deliberately misinterpreted it as ‘an order to grant ST status to the Meiteis’ and hence the Tribal Solidarity Rally of May 3, 2023. The world now knows what happened during and after the so called Solidarity Rally but what is disturbing was to see even the Union Home Minister toeing the narrative spelt out by the ITLF and CoTU that the Tribal Solidarity March was against the ruling of the High Court to grant ST status to the Meiteis. Since when did it become the job of the Judiciary to decide which community fits the bill to be tagged ST or not ? The Union Home Ministry cannot be blind to this fact and hence the question why such a blatant false narrative was spelt out as the trigger point for the clash. The State Government too followed some time later chanting the ST for Meiteis card as one of the points for the May 3, 2023 violence and this is where one was left wondering what had happened to all the talks about illegal immigrants from across the border. If it was due to the ST for Meiteis demand, then why raise a hue and cry over illegal immigrants from across the border or subscribe the outbreak of the violence on May 3, 2023 to illegal immigrants, the drugs cartel, narco-terrorism etc ? Doesn’t this render the demand to scrap the FMR, fence the border, actuate the NRC with 1951 or 1961 as the base year, redundant ? In short the changing narratives did not help the cause of Manipur one bit.
Coming back to the ST for Meiteis demand, it was refreshing to hear from the STDCM on the issue after a long time. Or at least the STDCM coming out with a public statement on the ST for Meiteis demand. Here let it also be very clear that what is being demanded is not anything out of the syllabus, for it is not much more than a demand to reply to the information sought by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry back in 2013. And this is where there should be no argument over whether the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list or not. It is not for some pen pushers to argue or debate whether the ST status should be conferred on the Meiteis or not. Leave that job to the Centre. The State Government just has to send the report, as sought. Nothing more, nothing less, in fact just what the High Court of Manipur had asked the State Government to do back in April 2023. Now is also the time for the STDCM, the MMTU, the World Meetei Council and the ST for Meiteis champions to come together and see what steps may be taken up to ensure that this issue occupies centre stage when Manipur goes to polls in 2027. Make it an election issue and make it a rallying point for all the people, especially the Meiteis. And in the process work out ways to take the indigenous folks of the land together. The task ahead is challenging, no doubt, but it is a task that has to be taken up, for a historical blunder, a blunder committed more than 70 years back should not be allowed to derail the future of the Meiteis.
Coming back to the ST for Meiteis demand, it was refreshing to hear from the STDCM on the issue after a long time. Or at least the STDCM coming out with a public statement on the ST for Meiteis demand. Here let it also be very clear that what is being demanded is not anything out of the syllabus, for it is not much more than a demand to reply to the information sought by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry back in 2013. And this is where there should be no argument over whether the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list or not. It is not for some pen pushers to argue or debate whether the ST status should be conferred on the Meiteis or not. Leave that job to the Centre. The State Government just has to send the report, as sought. Nothing more, nothing less, in fact just what the High Court of Manipur had asked the State Government to do back in April 2023. Now is also the time for the STDCM, the MMTU, the World Meetei Council and the ST for Meiteis champions to come together and see what steps may be taken up to ensure that this issue occupies centre stage when Manipur goes to polls in 2027. Make it an election issue and make it a rallying point for all the people, especially the Meiteis. And in the process work out ways to take the indigenous folks of the land together. The task ahead is challenging, no doubt, but it is a task that has to be taken up, for a historical blunder, a blunder committed more than 70 years back should not be allowed to derail the future of the Meiteis.