The tribes of Manipur are suspicious of each other that they often focus all their attention on each other’s various moves and forget what the main adversary is doing. Distrust and hatred for each other have kept the various tribes apart and disunited.
By Ngaranmi Shimray
How could such a serious matter of ST demand writ petition made by some Meitei organisations be taken up and decide the writ petition at motion stage by the High Court without any tribal person or organisations knowing about it or raising a voice asking for being in pleaded as a respondent or party and seeking time ? How is it that the advocates from the tribes working in the High Court and public at large were not alerted and allowed such a serious matter having long term ramification to slip through their sight/knowledge when they have the cause list for the next day? (However, in this particular case it appears that the order was orally dictated in court on 27.03.2023 i.e. the date of hearing of motion and order was passed on the same day i.e. 27.03.2023, but was uploaded only on 19.04.3023.).
Why are our student leaders, CSOs and activists so isolated from the main hub of information that they have been blind sided by this earth shaking High Court event. I wonder what was the tearing rush for the High Court to decide on the matter at motion stage on 27.03.2023 without hearing the affected party. I wonder what the respondents particularly the administrative Secretary of the department of Tribal Affairs & Hills, (TA&H) Minister concerned and Chief Secretary were doing.
Was it brought to the knowledge of the Chief Minister and Minister in charge of TA&H? Was there inaction on the part of the State government? The Hill Areas Committee (HAC) has come out with a resolution on 20.04.2023 (wrongly understanding that the order was passed on 19.04.2023 i.e. the date when it was digitally verified and uploaded in the Manipur High Court website) urging the State government to file an Appeal, but will the State government be able to go to court on this matter?
The order of the High Court dated 27.03.2023 has the potential of destabilising the government and causing tension in the society besides creating communal disharmony. It would not be wrong to say that Manipur has entered into a phase fraught with danger.
As far as tribal communities of Manipur are concerned, such incident taking place indicates that most of our leaders and intellectuals are sleeping most of the time. But we cannot blame them solely for this state of affair. It is the voters who is to blame as they have brought such a situation upon themselves by electing leaders who have no vision and lack the ability to lead and protect the interest of the people. The shortsighted tribesmen is to blame as most of us became corrupt during elections and compromise our choice of leaders for short-term consideration.
In the light of many things happening adversely for the tribes of Manipur, it is tempting to say that most of our leaders have myopic vision limiting their ability to see the future. The tribes of Manipur are suspicious of each other that they often focus all their attention on each other’s various moves and forget what the main adversary is doing. Distrust and hatred for each other have kept the various tribes apart and disunited.
The various alleged assaults for dominance from the Meitei society that the tribes have experienced and condescended in the past, one of them being the lack of strong opposition to the inclusion of Meitei language in the 8th Schedule of the constitution, is indeed a sad commentary of the lack of foresight by our leaders from all walks of life. The tribes of Manipur are now further disadvantaged as Manipuri/Meitei Lon has recently become one of the approved regional languages for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) recruitment examination. Meitei language has already been allowed as a language in the Combined Civil Services Examinations giving the Meitei a competitive advantage and many of them have made into various services now under the OBC reservation quota. Now the possibility of the advanced Meitei community becoming ST is looming large and if it happens they will corner all ST reserved jobs/educational seats in the State as well as the country as they have now become advanced people. This happened for the Meena tribe of Rajasthan while the other unfortunate non-Meena ST of Rajasthan suffered as most, if not all, of the jobs in government /seats in educational institutes of ST reserved quota are grabbed by the Meenas being the more advanced tribe. The Meenas are already grabbing more than 50% of the ST reserved jobs in the Combined Civil Services Examinations almost every year. Add to this the meitei ST factor, if it takes place, and there will be nothing left for the other STs across the country. The STs from other States need to wake up to the emerging danger and oppose the attempt of a dominant community to become a Scheduled Tribe to obtain benefits of jobs in government and seats in higher educational institutes.
Apart from the overt design to grab all ST reserved jobs etc, the allegedly hidden agenda of the demand for ST status by Meitei is “Land”. They are allegedly after the land in the hill areas and when they become ST they will be able to buy land from the poor tribal brothers. The Meiteis have numerous rich people, engineers, doctors, lawyers, businessmen etc and they have the ability to generate enough resources to make the system work in their favour.
The tribes of Manipur have been outclassed and outsmarted by the Meiteis. We have lost on all fronts. Politically, we have only 20 MLAs when it could be closer to 50% considering the population in the Hill Areas if delimitation is allowed, but it has been sadly scuttled by the State government.
Administratively, we have the outdated and ineffective Autonomous District Councils in the Hill Areas, which is autonomous only in name. The Manipur tribes spearheaded the demand for the sixth schedule but it has been stalled by the usage of insincere words like subject to certain “local adjustments and amendments” which was never clarified when answers were sought by Government of India as to what it meant. The demand for the Gorkaland and the Bodoland territorial councils, which are more powerful entities than the sixth schedule district councils, came much later but they have been achieved and succeeded through tough political fights and bloodshed. In Manipur, it has not been possible to even resurrect the demand for the sixth schedule made in the 1990s as leaders are dissuaded by the unspoken whisper emanating from the peace parleys that such concessions will be given when there is peace talk settlement for the Nagas and Kuki-chin groups. But alas! such settlement has become a mirage; the closer we get to it, the mirage vanishes and resurfaces at a further distance. Everyone is exhausted with no end in sight as the people continue to suffer from another onslaught from the Meiteis.
Now, to add further to the misery of the tribes of Manipur, the dominant community seemingly appears to have added a feather on their cap with the judiciary giving their demand a filip thereby precipitating an issue which the State government was procrastinating for fear of disturbing the social equilibrium in Manipur and triggering social disharmony. The ultimate sufferer in this case too would again be the tribes of Manipur as the prosperous Meitei community have resources to open many doors in their quest for ST status.
The onus lies with the State government to go for review or appeal against the order of the high court dated 27.03.2023 on Writ Petition (C) no. 229 of 2023. It would be the role of the HAC to ensure that action in the matter is taken by the State government. The department of TA&H especially the Minister cannot shirk its responsibility on this matter. Regardless of the expectation that the State government would go for appeal or review on the matter, the tribal organisations should ensure that similar appeal or review or any legal recourse against the High Court order dated 27.03.2023 is filed by them separately.
The tribes of Manipur are lost people. Like the Israelites, the tribes will have to wander in the wilderness for decades until they are united and march as one people to fight a common foe and enter the promised land. The simple idiom that most of us learn in school still resonates strongly and is relevant to our present situation – “United we stand, divided we fall.” The choice my friend, for the future of your children, is yours. Don’t delay. Make the right choice and face the challenge head on.
(Ngaranmi Shimray is a New Delhi based Social Activist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Opinion expressed here are his own and do not represent the views of TFM)
Absolutely lopsided and parochial view….
What a shameless demand of meitei.
Looks a selfish write up for someone whose time is up,terms like common adversary and foe lacks humanity,land and job grabbing is by Hillman occupying 92 pc share against 8 pc of plainsmen,still playing victim card wanting to remain ‘diadvantaged’even after 75 years of reservation,why not give some level playing ground for social,demographic,cultural,administrative,religious protection of the beleaguered ‘non-tribal’ mongoloid,amongst all surrounding ‘tribals’ of NE india–like language inclusion in 8th schedule inspite of opposition by unreasonables,inclusion in ST is also a long delayed justice for survival (as was included in pre indepence era) to protect ‘themselves’ from onslaught of all angles including the current STs ,some being of doubtful citizenship or even claimed lost tribe of Israel–if logical,fight legally not with bandhs or violence,even against Meena’s !!
Looks a selfish write up for someone whose time is up,terms like common adversary and foe lacks humanity,land and job grabbing is by Hillman occupying 92 pc share against 8 pc of plainsmen,still playing victim card wanting to remain ‘diadvantaged’even after 75 years of reservation,why not give some level playing ground for social,demographic,cultural,administrative,religious protection of the beleaguered ‘non-tribal’ mongoloid,amongst all surrounding ‘tribals’ of NE india–like language inclusion in 8th schedule inspite of opposition by unreasonables,inclusion in ST is also a long delayed justice for survival (as was included in pre indepence era) to protect ‘themselves’ from onslaught of all angles including the current STs ,some being of doubtful citizenship or even claimed lost tribe of Israel–if logical,fight legally not with bandhs or violence,even against Meena’s!
The main adversary, did you say? As long as you see your brethren as an adversary, you’ll remain small and never be able to see the facts!
This is completely one sided and sounds like you have written with lots of hatred towards Meitei communities. If you carry this thought process, it is going to be very difficult to live in harmony. Judging from what you have written you don’t seem to feel the pulse of what Meitei community feels and want.
Absolutely. Pity on his myopic view.
Main demand for ST by plainsmen is for protection of land,culture and identity,not fo free meal;reasonable people are ready for socio-economic based reservation ,so that illogical multiple caste based quota enjoyed by even by MPs,MLAs,beurocrats or top ranking STs and offsprings is diverted to really needy and deserving human being of any caste or creed,and atsum/HAC are not ex party to the HC judgement,so no locus standi in the ruling;lastly reservation Policy which is supposed to be for few decades,seemed to extended for nearly a century after independence,likely as a bait and double edged sword to keep people perpetually ‘underdeveloped’ and ‘lazy’,and as appeasement for vote bank,which should be understood by any right thinking party !
General ,OBC ,SC and now claiming ST 🙂
A much awaited call from a tribesmen of Manipur. How long will the meitei/meetei take advantage of the simple and humble tribals. Just because they are in the hills doesn’t mean valley dwellers should grab all of tribal rights and livelihood since its stocked up in the capital. Its a shameful hypocrisy that they’re not satisfied with sowing disunity and hatred amongst the tribal in the name of indigeneous and refugee and divide in order to meet their greedy policy. See the audacity of certain group going to Outer MP and trying to persuade ATSUM to agree to their heidous plan. Can a Naga or Kuki groups also approach titular king an MP to agree to their sovereignty and homeland demands?. Its shamefully ridiculous. A govt breaking up will be a small thing. Any communal related backlash if it happens will be the sole doing of those who try to subdue and snatch tribal rights in Manipur. Yes by the already well fattened and advanced community.
Such shallow mental outlook with strong prejudice against fellow brethren exploited for more than 75 years. You are not concerned about the gradual marginalization of Meitei in small pocket of central Imphal valley.
This is well written if sky is a limit for pple who are never enough then the land they live is always in turmoil and their satiates for pure greed surely breeds covetous of thy neighbours makes it impossible for peaceful coexistence. One should remembered the history of mankind kingdoms fall,empires destroyed ,dynasty gone.
…..What left of it is ashes.
Meitei Community has always remain like the eldest brother of the family, sacrificing and sharing everything. You and your other so called brothers have been enjoying alone the ST status that should have been shared with Meiteis for the last many decades. Now instead of instigating your people educate them with the truth else, be responsible for your stupid thoughts.
“MAIN ADVERSARY”, I’ll just leave this quote here from the article for you to ponder. I guess diplomacy has left the building and propaganda has set up base inside the writer’s mind like Uncle Sam coming for Iraqi freedom. Atleast pretend that you aren’t promoting hatred (even though you may hate the Meeteis). After reading this, it becomes obvious that the only person worrying about “land” is the writer himself, projecting his insecurities and NSCN propaganda onto a simple issue of self preservation for a community facing imminent extinction (like the Tripuris). Regardless of what community anyone belongs to, the land of Manipur belongs to the people of Manipur, suggesting anything otherwise reflects the “myopic” and communal vision of the writer himself. Pro-communal, promoting disunity and exclusivity of one group over others.
This is golden opportunity for current STs to run for their money,to see sweet success after hardwork and utilize their unused brains/limbs,not just free meal and laziness,and for plainsmen to protect their culture and land from marauding migrants,reclaim level playing field–after all,current STs should not be so fearful of the plainsmen ,as if they much superior or have extra brain/limbs,it is just the mindset that separates human beings–let the region break up 100 times to save the persecuted ,yielding and exploited non STs,as no one likes integrity at the cost of the latter–Lastly it is not HAC,current STs who have power to give or not to give ST to any other community but central govt.and illegibility criteria to be one !!