In a bid to reignite the movement for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe of Indian constitution, Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) warns of intense agitations including bandhs and blockade if the state government fails to send the recommendation.
TFM Report
In a bid to reignite the movement for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe of Indian constitution, Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) on Thursday threatened to launch intense agitation, including bandhs and blockade, if the state government fails to send the recommendation.
STDCM, Union of Social Upliftment and Lamlong Keithel Fambi Association jointly organised a sit-in at Lamlong Keithel, Imphal.
Even though the state government is aware of the fact that in order to protect the culture, identity, language, and land, the inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in ST list, a constitutional safeguard is must, it has been ignored till date, said STDCM general secretary K Bhigendrajit who attended the sit-in.
The process of the inclusion requires the state government to send a recommendation to the centre. Even though the centre has asked the state government to send the same, the Biren-led government has been sitting on it, he added.
K Bhigendrajit also questioned the BJP for not sending its representative in the all political parties meeting held on October 13. How the present government can claim to save Manipur when it did not even bother to send a representative, he asked.
He also asserted that the intending candidates for the 2022 general elections should declare whether they support the movement or not.
Several placards that read “No ST No Vote”, “We demand ST status for Meitei/Meetei”, “Send recommendation to include Meitei/Meetei in ST list”, amongst others were used in the sit-in.