The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) has formally submitted a memorandum to the Governor’s office, highlighting its position on the ongoing ethnic crisis and reiterating the long-standing demand for the inclusion of the Meitei/Meetei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list under the Constitution of India.
According to a statement issued by the STDCM, the organisation has been campaigning for more than a decade for the inclusion of the Meitei/Meetei community—recognized as one of the indigenous tribes of Manipur—into the ST list. Despite repeated appeals, successive governments in the state have failed to send the required specific recommendation to the Centre, which the Committee described as regrettable.
The STDCM pointed out that the current violent crisis, which erupted on May 3, 2023, following the “Tribal Solidarity March” organised by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM), remains unresolved. The Committee noted that the situation had escalated beyond the control of the previous state government and added that normalcy had been partially restored after the imposition of President’s Rule on February 13, 2025.
The memorandum, which had initially been planned for personal submission, was eventually handed over to the Governor’s office due to a delay in securing an appointment. The Committee stated that the document was also being circulated to the press in the interest of public awareness.
The memorandum dwelled on two core concerns: the perceived root causes of the ongoing crisis and the justification for the ST demand. STDCM maintained that the violence was not triggered by the Manipur High Court’s April 19, 2023 order related to the Meitei/Meetei ST demand. It argued that the violence was limited to Kuki-dominated areas, while other tribal-dominated regions where the rally concluded peacefully did not witness any disturbances.
Further, the Committee asserted that the Meitei/Meetei had been excluded from the ST list since 1951 for unexplained reasons and have since been deprived of constitutional protections. Facing increasing marginalisation, the community fears extinction in its own ancestral land. The STDCM clarified that their demand is not intended to undermine the rights of other tribal groups but to ensure the collective survival and harmony of all indigenous communities in Manipur.