The Federation of All Tribal Youth Clubs, Manipur (FATYCM) has shot off a letter to the Prime Minister on Monday lodging a protest against the demand for inclusion of the Meitei in the Scheduled Tribes status list of the Indian Constitution.
In the letter to the Prime Minister, the tribal youth federation has also raised a demand for a separate state for the tribals of Manipur to avoid potential social-political conflict in the state.
There have been news reports published in the local media recently, saying that the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh had agreed in principle to give ST status to the Meitei within the Constitution if recommended by the state assembly, the memorandum said.
It said the news, if true, is very disturbing and dangerous that it could disturb the socio-political issues of the region beyond redemption.
Tribals of Manipur are indigenous people and were never a part of the Meitei hegemony in the valley which was ruled by several kings, it said.
Until the British colonial Government annexed the tribal areas, tribals were independent, had their traditional customs, culture, polity and lived like the ancient Greek City States in the hill-tops of the mountains, it said, adding that even after the Britishers arrived, the colonial rulers left the tribals to themselves except collecting house tax of Rs 3 per year as a sign of their subjects and this system continued till India attained her independence.
It further added that the tribals of Manipur were never under the direct relationship with the Meitei kings, but they were merged to the valley without their consent when India got its independence.
The tribals or hill men of the current state of Manipur were neither a party to the Merger Agreement that culminated in its amalgamation into the Indian Union in 1949-50, it added.
It alleged that the Meitei, the majority community in Manipur, has exploited the simple tribal people of the state socially, economically and politically.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/fatycm-opposes-making-meitei-st/
