Our Correspondent
Imphal, March 3 (EMN): Thousands of people on Sunday took to the streets in Imphal demanding inclusion of Meitei in the list of Scheduled Tribes status.
The rally was organised to protest the state government’s inaction to the demands of the committee, the Publicity Sub-Committee of STDCM said a statement which was distributed during the rally.
The mass protest rally organised by Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) began from Thangmeiband Athletic Union ground in Imphal eest district and passed through the major streets of Imphal and converged at Hafta Kangjeibung in Imphal East district where a public meeting was held.
The STDCM has been urging the state authority to submit a recommendation to central authority after the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had sought the state government’s recommendation on the demand for inclusion of Meitei in the list of Scheduled Tribes on May 29, 2013.But the state government is yet to give its recommendation.
Addressing the public meeting, STDCM general secretary L Lokendra said that the movement was to provide constitutional safeguards to Meitei’s ethnic identity and also to prevent it from becoming extinct.
“It is a question of survival, survival of the Meitei race in its natural habitat called Manipur.It will to bring a cohesive and harmonious society in Manipur,” he said.
STDCM leaders said that Meitei will be the only community in the entire Northeast which will not be included among the ST if the six tribes of Assam including Tai-Ahom and Tea Tribes were included under ST list because it has no constitutional protection unlike others.
During the meeting held after the rally, the gathering resolved to launch 36 hours general strike on March 9 if the state government fail to send its recommendation to Centre by March 6
It also decided to launch a campaign against those political parties which failed to support the ongoing public movement.
Further, it threatened to stop the railway line construction works from March 11 onwards as part of intensifying its agitation.
It may be mentioned that some tribal students’ bodies have opposed the demand for inclusion of Meitei in ST list alleging that it will affect the interest of the tribals in the state.
