The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) on Monday condemned the failure of the state government for not giving any attention to the demand to include Meetei/Meitei community into the scheduled tribe list, and announced to resume agitations from March 20.
The committee has been demanding the state government to enlist Meitei/Meetei community into scheduled tribe list since 2012 but the state government has not paid any attention till date, general secretary K Bhogendrajit said, while speaking to the media during a press conference held on Monday at its office in Thangmeiband.
Not finalising the demand which is considered genuine and meaningful is condemnable, he said. The agitations were kept suspended for some months with the belief that the government would surely fulfil the demand, he further said, adding the committee has now lost all patience to wait for any response from the state government.
"The government’s act of maintaining a silence on the matter has led them to conclude that their demand would never be fulfilled without undergoing a democratic movement. On this note, the committee will resume agitations from March 20,” he said, while appealing to the people of the state to extend their support against the said agitation.
The fulfilment of this demand would help in maintaining equality among various ethnic communities and also help in providing constitutional safeguard to the indigenous Meetei/Meitei community, he further said while adding the state government should fulfil the said demand at earliest.
