The Naga Village Chief Federation, Manipur (NVCFM) has countered the recent statement issued by the Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union calling for abolition of hereditary chieftainship.
A statement issued by NVCFM secretary, SN Darthot Peter on Thursday said the federation is necessitated to rebut the statement issued by the Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union which appeared in a local paper of 13 October with a strong caption “MMTU calls for abolition of hereditary chieftainship.”
To set the record straight and to avoid future complications, the twin word - “hereditary” and “chieftainship”, as the name suggests, is an inherent and inalienable right being bestowed upon the rightful village chief that no other clans, internal or external forces, could challenge or take away because the chief was the first to discover and settle in the new found place/home called “Village,”, the NVCFM stated.
They alleged that calling for abolition of hereditary chieftainship would be tantamount to disputing the history of Manipur, which has long been sustained by the village chief from various aggressors.
In fact, the demand is a direct attack on the institute of village chiefs, the NVCFM said, adding that the government has no authority to usurped this legitimate ownership. To appoint a village chief solely depends on the right hereditary lineage and not with state or central government for it is purely hereditary in nature. Why then is the MMTU pitching for its abolition, it questioned.
Reckoned anointed ones, the chief was revered and respected by the villagers and in return, he looked after their affairs by protecting and preserving their lands, customs, traditions and culture, the NVCFM stated.
The federation further stated that citing hereditary chieftainship as the root cause for influx of illegal immigrants and mushrooming of villages in the Manipur’s hill districts holds not an iota of water. No self-style individual or group has the right to break away from their original village and become a new chief. To establish a new village, certain parameters (customary laws) have to be fulfilled in letter and spirit, the federation stated.
The NVCFM is constrained to point out this testament to clear the confusion surrounding the calls for total annihilation of hereditary chieftainship from the pages of history. Such distortion and misconception must be avoided at all costs for village chiefs are not a new development but has been there since ages, they stated.
The federation, no doubt, agrees with some of the simmering issues mentioned by the MTU. But before going to that, indigenous and non-indigenous people must be clearly defined, it stated.
Concerning surges in numbers of villages reportedly taking place in the state, the federation urged the government to monitor the developments and act on it head on before the situation escalates for the worse.
Post these findings, the government can correct and put in place strong measures to contain entry of illegal immigrants from the porous border and shun benefits to derecognise villages in addition to exercising punitive legal authority against illegal encroachers of land, it maintained.
It then urged MTU to refrain from clubbing the said issue with the avalanche of villages and entry of illegal immigrants. If it finds such inconsistency taking place in certain areas and districts of the state, as pointed out by it, there are proper channels to navigate and streamline the same in consultation with all the stakeholders, the Naga chiefs stated.
