Taking the ST demand to the next poll MMTU right on track
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The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union appears to be on track and focus should be on how to take the ST for Meiteis demand to the centre stage when Manipur goes in for Assembly elections in 2027. This is the line that The Sangai Express had been advocating for some time and perhaps now is the right time to start preparing for it. In as much as the people should be mobilised to pitchfork the ST demand as the main agenda in the run up to the elections, efforts should also be made to see how the other organisations such as the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM), World Meetei Council (WMC), Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL) and others can be roped in to put up a concerted and united effort. The need to reach out to all the major civil society organisations as well as the local clubs and organisations need not be stressed here, but it should be clear that now is the time to give a renewed thrust to the demand. Let the next Government, that is after the 2027 Assembly election, send the needed ethnographic and socio-economic report of the Meiteis to the Centre, so that the needed process may be taken up at the level of Parliament. Let the Centre decide. As things stand right now, talk of the return of the popularly elected Government is doing the round and if one goes by what has transpired so far, the interests of all the major communities may be accommodated in the Ministry formation. This is where the opportune moment arises for the ST for Meiteis champions to up the ante and see how the next Government may be sensitised to the need to do the needful for the inclusion of the Meiteis in the ST list. There will be opposition to this demand, that is a given, but ultimately it is the Centre which will decide on the matter and all that Imphal would need to do is to send the report as sought, a report which was sought way back in 2013. That the Meitei as a community is a tribal group need not be elaborated here again, and hence the question, if the said community does not fulfil the criteria to be tagged a Scheduled Tribe, then why should opposition be raised to the demand ? The very voice of opposition, the arguments against the demand, is self explanatory or else why should others worry ? Even as MMTU may gear up to make the ST demand the centre piece in the next Assembly election, there is also the need to convince all section of the great Meitei community to come on board or at least not to oppose the demand. The first, meaningful step that may be taken up is to revisit the days when the STDCM went on a house to house campaign of the valley MLAs to elicit their stand on the ST demand. This should be reminded to all the candidates, as well as the political parties, and efforts should be made to make this the central point for the election scheduled in the early part of 2027.
The Meiteis missed the bus earlier but this cannot be the reason why the ST demand should be brushed aside now. In as much as the present Scheduled Tribe communities of Manipur may have the right to protect what they term ‘their land’ it also stands that the Meiteis need some sort of a Constitutional mechanism to protect ‘their land’ and what is underneath the land. To put to rest the apprehension that may be felt by the communities who are currently under the ST category, internal arrangements may be made, in so far as admission and employment in sectors under the State Government is concerned. Reservation criteria can always be worked out for jobs under the State Government and a leaf or two may be taken from neighbouring States like Nagaland where the tribes have been clubbed under different categories. Moreover it should also not be forgotten that job and admission reservation outside the State should be viewed at the pan India level. Will the present ST communities of Manipur oppose the move to include six more communities of Assam in the ST list ? Some may also put up the argument that the Meiteis come under the OBC, but remember the creamy and non-creamy layer categorisation in the OBC list. This line of argument should be negated for in the case of the OBC there is no land protection. A point which should not be forgotten.
The Meiteis missed the bus earlier but this cannot be the reason why the ST demand should be brushed aside now. In as much as the present Scheduled Tribe communities of Manipur may have the right to protect what they term ‘their land’ it also stands that the Meiteis need some sort of a Constitutional mechanism to protect ‘their land’ and what is underneath the land. To put to rest the apprehension that may be felt by the communities who are currently under the ST category, internal arrangements may be made, in so far as admission and employment in sectors under the State Government is concerned. Reservation criteria can always be worked out for jobs under the State Government and a leaf or two may be taken from neighbouring States like Nagaland where the tribes have been clubbed under different categories. Moreover it should also not be forgotten that job and admission reservation outside the State should be viewed at the pan India level. Will the present ST communities of Manipur oppose the move to include six more communities of Assam in the ST list ? Some may also put up the argument that the Meiteis come under the OBC, but remember the creamy and non-creamy layer categorisation in the OBC list. This line of argument should be negated for in the case of the OBC there is no land protection. A point which should not be forgotten.