Demanding the state government to send recommendation to the Centre for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the scheduled tribe (ST) list, members of Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee (STDC), Manipur staged a sit-in protest in front of THAU Ground, Imphal on Sunday.
General secretary of STDC K Bhogendrajit said that it has been almost eight years since we have been demanding for the inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the ST list. However, it is unfortunate that the government has not taken up any new development for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the list, Bhogendrajit said while recalling the peoples’ movement of March 3, 2019 which was participated by around 1 lakh individuals demanding for ST status to Meetei/Meitei community.
Bhogedrajit said that the committee strongly condemned the state government’s reply given during the question hour of the ongoing Assembly session which sought more time for discussing the matter with regard to the recommendations of the state cabinet to the Centre for inclusion of Meetei/Metei in the ST list.
Recalling the statement of Chief Minister N Biren Singh made on the floor of the House stating, “I do admit that the Meetei/Meitei community need protection,” the general secretary drew the attention of the chief minister to send the recommendation to the Centre at the earliest to protect the Meetei/Meitei community.
Delaying the recommendation to the Centre will only lead to intensive forms of agitation by the, the STDC general secretarycautioned.
