Why drag in the ST demand ? Posers from ANSAM
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In so far as it is to the knowledge of The Sangai Express the Congress or its MP, Bimol Akoijam representing the Inner Parliamentary Constituency in the Lok Sabha, has not made a public stand on the demand that the Meiteis be included in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution of India. This is where it is flummoxing to see the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur dragging in the ST for Meiteis demand while refuting the stand of the Lok Sabha MP on a host of issues. When did the MP say anything on the ST for Meiteis demand is a question ANSAM may perhaps be best placed to answer but in so far as The Sangai Express is concerned there is no instance of the MP having publicly stated anything of substance on the matter. While the MP has not said anything on the allegations raised by ANSAM, the World Meetei Council (WMC) has gone ahead to justify the ST demand best summed in the line, ‘ST demand not a matter to be negotiated or debated among communities.’ This is where WMC appears to be on the right track, for it is not the business of anyone, but Parliament to decide whether Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list or not. To keep the record straight, this is also beyond the purview of the Judiciary, and this is the reason why The Sangai Express has on more than one or two or three occasions called out the lies in organising the Tribal Solidarity March of May 3, 2023. The ATSUM leadership, the men at the top of the hierarchy in the Churachandpur based Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Front (ITLF) and the Kangpokpi based Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), would not have been so unlettered not to know that the order of the High Court of Manipur, back then, was to ask the Government of Manipur to send the ethnographic and socio-economic report of the Meiteis to the Centre. A report which the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry had sought back in 2013 to study whether the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list or not. It was this and nothing more and this is where questions may be raised on why there should be such a strong opposition to sending the report, if the Meiteis, as claimed by ANSAM, ATSUM and others, are such an advanced lot of people. If the ethnographic and socio-economic report of the Meiteis do not fit the bill to be included in the ST list, let Parliament decide that. And if the Meiteis are such an advanced people, why should ANSAM and others oppose the demand ? Let the Centre decide not anyone else, especially those who were at one point of time classed as the group of people who crossed into Manipur and the other North Eastern States in different phases of history, particularly during the Burmanisation programme of Ne Win in Myanmar. A line brought out so succinctly by a certain Mr Paolienlal Haokip in an article submitted to the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies back on May 23, 2002.
If ANSAM is so much concerned about the group of people who presently come under the ST list, then its focus should be on how the ‘quota’ or share of the Nagas have been gobbled up by those who are within the ST list right now in Manipur and who have come later in the history of the land ! This line should be understood in the context of the line that there are only two groups of people who are indigenous to Manipur, the Nagas and the Meiteis. A line which was also underlined by the general secretary of the NSCN (IM), Thuingaleng Muivah during a one to one with The Sangai Express at Camp Hebron back in 2005. The focus should be right and this is where WMC has every right to be peeved in the manner in which the ST for Meiteis demand was dragged in by ANSAM while refuting the Lok Sabha MP. And it should also be clear to everyone, that competition for job reservation or reservation in admission to top notch colleges and universities across the country, reservation in admission to professional courses such as Medical or Engineering should be looked at the pan-India level. Reservation models within Manipur can always be worked out and a leaf or two can be taken out from the model followed in neighbouring States like Nagaland. That the Meitei is a tribal group of people has been explained many times here, and it is the job of Parliament to decide whether the Meiteis can be included in the Scheduled list or not. There should be no arguments over this point.
If ANSAM is so much concerned about the group of people who presently come under the ST list, then its focus should be on how the ‘quota’ or share of the Nagas have been gobbled up by those who are within the ST list right now in Manipur and who have come later in the history of the land ! This line should be understood in the context of the line that there are only two groups of people who are indigenous to Manipur, the Nagas and the Meiteis. A line which was also underlined by the general secretary of the NSCN (IM), Thuingaleng Muivah during a one to one with The Sangai Express at Camp Hebron back in 2005. The focus should be right and this is where WMC has every right to be peeved in the manner in which the ST for Meiteis demand was dragged in by ANSAM while refuting the Lok Sabha MP. And it should also be clear to everyone, that competition for job reservation or reservation in admission to top notch colleges and universities across the country, reservation in admission to professional courses such as Medical or Engineering should be looked at the pan-India level. Reservation models within Manipur can always be worked out and a leaf or two can be taken out from the model followed in neighbouring States like Nagaland. That the Meitei is a tribal group of people has been explained many times here, and it is the job of Parliament to decide whether the Meiteis can be included in the Scheduled list or not. There should be no arguments over this point.