The Meetei/Meitei Tribe Union (MMTU) has been continuing its nationwide campaign to seek the restoration of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list under Article 342(1) of the Indian Constitution. According to a statement from the organisation, the campaign is being taken up at the national level with the objective of reaching out to political and religious leaders, as well as Scheduled Tribe communities across India.
MMTU maintained that the demand is not for fresh inclusion but for the restoration of the community’s status, which it claimed was wrongly omitted in the early 1950s. The organisation cited various historical records to substantiate its claim, asserting that the Meetei were originally recognised as a Hindu Hill Tribe by British authorities.
The organisation referred to colonial-era documents such as the 1891 Census Report compiled by Census Commissioner J.A. Baines and Assam Census Superintendent E.A. Gait, which reportedly classified the Meetei as a Hill Tribe. MMTU also referred to the 1912 publication Ethnography (Castes and Tribes) by Baines and the 1908 book The Meitheis by T.C. Hodson, both of which described the Meetei as a tribal community that adopted Hinduism in the 18th century.
The organisation added that successive census records, particularly those of 1921 and 1931, continued to list the Meetei as a Hill Tribe in Manipur. It said that in the 1931 Census Report, the Meetei appeared at serial number one among the 14 Hill Tribes of Assam Province.
MMTU stated that in April 1949, ahead of the formal merger of Manipur into India, the then Ministry of States had asked Manipur’s Dewan (Political Agent) to submit a list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the state. The organisation noted that the list forwarded on June 6, 1949 by the then Chief Minister M.K. Priyobarta included 24 tribes as STs and two as SCs, but did not include the Meetei. This omission, it alleged, led to the community’s exclusion from the ST list in the final version notified after India’s Constitution came into effect in 1950.
Further, MMTU highlighted that following a complaint from certain Kuki-Zo groups, the official list was revised to include only the broad categories of “Any Naga Tribe, Any Kuki Tribe, and Any Lushai Tribe”, which excluded the Meetei entirely.
The organisation expressed concern that the exclusion of the Meetei from the ST list has had far-reaching consequences on the community’s constitutional safeguards and political representation. It further stated that despite historical recognition, the Meetei continue to face disadvantages and marginalisation in their own land.
MMTU concluded that in view of the historical, ethnological, and constitutional evidence, it is pursuing constitutional remedies to correct the historical lapse and ensure the restoration of the Meetei community in the Scheduled Tribe list of India.