TMB Report
Imphal: The World Meetei Council (WMC) has urged the BJP led-government in the State and the Centre to expedite the process for the inclusion of Meetei in the Scheduled Tribes (STs) list of the Indian Constitution.
A press release issued by WMC Secretary General Yambem Arun Meetei said that WMC has genuinely felt that some people especially from among the non-indigenous people in Manipur are planning to obstruct the genuine demand of the Meetei people to be included in the list of ST by spreading false propaganda. The reasons for this plan are not difficult to understand and the fact is, Meetei who from their historical
position of being the big brother have now dwindled to a Humpty Dumpty due to the misdeeds committed by Meetei leaders only.
It said that Meetei are confined in a small area of land less than 6 percent of the total area of the state. Demographics are also posing another crisis and till the 1971 census there was socio-political equilibrium among the communities. However, after the unchecked influx of illegal migrants from across the international border especially from neighbouring Myanmar, the demography showed a fundamental change. The illegal migrants had merged with the local population having matching ethnicity.
This has caused unhealthy effects to the socio-political atmosphere in Manipur, it said.
We know that this migrant community has been planning to carve out a homeland from this tiny state. The students and CSOs have been urging the government to implement NRC. Not surprisingly this group of people is planting the theory of land grabbing in case Meetei becomes ST, knowing fully well that the
Meetei people would not live in the hills even if they are given land free of cost, so that their attempt to dominate the hill is unhindered, it added.It said that they have put up theories such as Meetei would seize all the advantages of the Naga and Kuki-Chin people provided by the provision of ST as if the indigenous Nagas are fools. But, the fact is that the migrants and their descendants cannot be included in the ST list as per the law. And therefore the Government of India has yet to amend the Constitution accordingly, it maintained.
The release further stated, interestingly this group of people also claimed that they are Jewish and
after necessary scrutiny the Israeli government had accepted them as Jewish people and accordingly
migration had started to Israel from Manipur of which records are available in the government. The
point is such things are beyond the idea of Meetei and Naga because being indigenous their mythology
and their historical experiences is confined in the region unlike the migrant population.
It said WMC welcomes any gesture from any group to sit across the table in any venue, maybe at
Amity hall, Adimjati complex, Imphal or any venue as convenient to them to clarify the points they usually raise every now and then through the media, while urging the state government and Centre to expedite the process to include Meetei in ST list of the Indian Constitution.
