ST demand : Give it a renewed thrust Setting right historical blunder
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The ST for Meiteis demand should not be allowed to wither away. Time calls for a renewed push to this demand. Look at the reality. The Meiteis are a tribal group and it was nothing more than a historical blunder for the Meiteis to have missed out on the ST bus, but this is no reason why demands cannot be raised to include them in the scheduled list now. Opposition will be there, no doubt, but it should not be forgotten that it is not the Judiciary which will decide whether the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list or not but Parliament. This is where the lie in the assertion that the High Court order to the Government of Manipur to send the ethnographic and socio-economic report of the Meiteis to the Centre for consideration of its inclusion in the ST list, is the reason for the eruption of the violence on May 3, 2023 stands exposed. Better still even if this stands true, then why should a community be targeted for a ruling of the High Court of Manipur. No one has bothered to answer this question and instead it was left to a body called the People’s Union on Civil Liberty (PUCL) to weave the yarn that it was the Meiteis who started the violence ! Why the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list of the Constitution has been detailed by many, the articles of which The Sangai Express has carried down the years and months, and to repeat a stand, if the Meiteis do not fit the bill to be included in the ST list, why should apprehensions be raised ? It was back in 2013 that the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs asked the State Government to send the ethnographic and socio-economic report of the Meiteis so that the demand that it be included in the ST list can be studied, but the then Congress Government slept over it. Likewise the BJP led Government which seized power after the 2017 Assembly elections deemed it ‘wiser’ to follow the example of the Congress Government and tried to sweep the ST demand aside. In between, the All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur came up with the brilliant idea of staging the Tribal Solidarity March on May 3, 2023, ostensibly against the ruling of the High Court of Manipur but ATSUM could not have been blind to the fact that it is not the job of the High Court to decide whether a community fits the bill to be included in the ST list or not. This is where the May 3 Tribal Solidarity March lie emerges in black and white. All the more reason why the ST for Meiteis demand should be pursued with renewed vigour.
ST for Meiteis demand, the War on Drugs, the pressing need for NRC, these are all issues which are central to the place and her people. And this is where several anti-drugs organisations will need to cast their net wider. Look beyond the petty drug pushers. Look beyond the drug users in the locality. Cast the net wider and pile the pressure on the Government to take things to its logical conclusion. There have been so many cases of huge drug seizures which have been left hanging in the air with no follow up action. This is where the glaring failure of the Government stands out and it is only right that the anti-drug crusaders pile the pressure on the relevant Government agencies to ensure that due follow up course of actions are taken up. Break the chain. Go beyond just pulling up the land tillers, the poppy farmers. Get down to the question of who is financing the poppy plantation work. Who picks up the harvested poppy ? Where does the harvested poppy go ? These are points which the Government should have worked out a long time back, if it intended to give meaning to the War on Drugs campaign. So far there is nothing much to suggest that the Government is willing to go beyond catching the poppy planters and the petty drug pushers. Who is at the top of the ring ? Questions which have already been raised here, but no answers so far. Go after the druglords, crack the nexus and at the same time seriously consider the demand that the Meiteis be included in the ST list of the Constitution of India. Efforts should also be made to reach out to everyone to ensure that the demand is not twisted to suit the stand of those who are against the ST for Meiteis demand.
ST for Meiteis demand, the War on Drugs, the pressing need for NRC, these are all issues which are central to the place and her people. And this is where several anti-drugs organisations will need to cast their net wider. Look beyond the petty drug pushers. Look beyond the drug users in the locality. Cast the net wider and pile the pressure on the Government to take things to its logical conclusion. There have been so many cases of huge drug seizures which have been left hanging in the air with no follow up action. This is where the glaring failure of the Government stands out and it is only right that the anti-drug crusaders pile the pressure on the relevant Government agencies to ensure that due follow up course of actions are taken up. Break the chain. Go beyond just pulling up the land tillers, the poppy farmers. Get down to the question of who is financing the poppy plantation work. Who picks up the harvested poppy ? Where does the harvested poppy go ? These are points which the Government should have worked out a long time back, if it intended to give meaning to the War on Drugs campaign. So far there is nothing much to suggest that the Government is willing to go beyond catching the poppy planters and the petty drug pushers. Who is at the top of the ring ? Questions which have already been raised here, but no answers so far. Go after the druglords, crack the nexus and at the same time seriously consider the demand that the Meiteis be included in the ST list of the Constitution of India. Efforts should also be made to reach out to everyone to ensure that the demand is not twisted to suit the stand of those who are against the ST for Meiteis demand.