Taking the ST demand to the Assembly Let the House debate

A tribal group under any universally acceptable definition but not included in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution of India, thanks to the short sightedness of the people who mattered back then and the BJP led Government in Imphal seems intent on adding its own share to the folly of history. This is what may be read into the indifference of the Government to the growing demand that the required ethnographic and socio-economic report be sent to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The stand that such a report must be sent has not been plucked out of thin air but is a natural follow up to the report sought by the Centre back in 2013. That is more than 10 years back and while the then Congress Government slept over this intimation from the Centre for four years, the BJP led Government seems intent on bettering the record of the Congress Government in sleeping over the intimation for over seven years and counting. The Meiteis missed the bus back in 1951, then again in 1981 when the move of the State Government to send a proposal to include the Meiteis in the ST list was shot down by the so called Meitei leaders. The Government at Imphal was then under the Chief Ministership of the late Rishang Keishing. This was in 1981 and fast forward to 1999-2003 when the late Ved Marwah was the Governor of Manipur and his proposal that the Meiteis be put in the ST list of the Constitution was unceremoniously opposed by some of the Meitei elites, a point which he so succinctly put in his book, India in Turmoil. ‘The Meiteis are no less tribal in their way of living than the Nagas. So I offered to take up the issue with the Central Government on a priority. But I was surprised to find that there were no takers,’ the late former Governor wrote in his book. Likewise the then W Nipamacha Singh Government also turned down any proposal to get the Meiteis enlisted in the ST list reasoning that the OBC tag is more than enough. All standing testimonies that the Meiteis missed the bus on more than one occasion and this had nothing to do with the ethnographic and socio-economic realities of the Meiteis. A look back at the perforated tinned roofs of the Meiteis in the recent hail storm devastation reflected the reality of the state of existence of many Meiteis and look beyond Imphal and take a look at the existence of the folks living in the interior parts of the place. It is for the Centre to decide whether the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list or not and the demand of the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM), the World Meetei Council (WMC), the Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU), Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL) and others is for the State Government to just send the report sought way back in 2013. Send the report and see how the Centre respond.
It is in line with the demand raised that the WMC and MMTU have urged the State Assembly to debate on the ST for Meiteis demand when the House meets from July 31. Tough to say if the issue will be discussed and debated on the floor of the Assembly, but it is important for the State Government to spell out its stand to the people, for after all the elected members are there on behalf of the people. If the Government thinks that it can and should evade such a line, then the reason for not discussing the same should be spelt out to the public. And remember the call of the WMC and MMTU has come on the strength of the more than 9 lakh missed calls the STDCM, WMC and others received during the miss call campaign. Also remember all the MLAs, who the STDCM had called upon earlier on the same issue, had voiced their support. The reasons why the Meiteis should also get Constitutional protection have been spelt out on more than one occasion, but it needs to be reiterated that the interests of the Meitei folks need to be protected and it is only the Meitei community which has been carrying the flag of Manipur for years, in the face of the growing threat to the land and identity of Manipur. The job of Imphal is to just send the needed report and wait to see how the Centre responds and this should not entail any difficulty. As for some personalities who have come out in opposition to the stand that the Meiteis be included in the ST list, one cannot help but wonder why such a rigid stand should be adopted if they feel the Meiteis do not fulfil the criteria to be tagged a Scheduled Tribe. Let the Centre decide that.