IT News
Imphal, Apr. 27:
World Meitei Council (WMC) has term the joining of hands between the indigenous Naga people and the immigrant communities against fellow indigenous people (Meetei) as ‘historic’.
A statement by Yambem Arun Meetei, Secretary General of WMC said that the reason for joining hands between the Naga indigenous people and the immigrants communities against their fellow indigenous people is due to fear that the Meetei indigenous community would grab their lands or they would lose their job quota, reservations at institutions and more, if the Meetei community is included in the Scheduled Tribe list. The WMC however said that their take on the immigrant community in the matter is different.
The WMC on the other hand has lauded the order of the Manipur High Court in connection with the demand by Meetei community for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution of India.
“We do not equate indigenous Naga people with the immigrant communities”, the WMC statement said. The organization has taken the alliance between the Naga and the immigrants for putting pressure to the government against the directives of the Manipur High Court, with extreme seriousness.
The WMC said that nothing can be sorted out by putting pressure on an issue where the question of the survival of the Meetei people is involved. It also said that issues among the indigenous communities may exist but can be sorted out across the table, which is the only way to find a logical conclusion.
In connection with the objection by the United Naga Council (UNC) and the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) the Manipur High Courts directives to the Government of Manipur to send its recommendations for the inclusion of the Meetei Community for inclusion in the Scheduled List of the Tribes of India to the Centre, Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL) Manipur said that Meeteis are demanding the inclusion of the Meetei tribe in the scheduled list of Tribes in the Constitution of India.
A statement by Luwangcha U. Ngamkheingakpa, Secretary General of KKL said that the demand for inclusion of Meetei community to the ST list is not aimed at grabbing jobs either from the Naga or Kuki communities of Manipur but to safeguard their little bit of land now confined to less than 2000 square kilometers out of the 20,000 square kilometers of the entire State.
The statement said that both the Kuki Inpi and UNC need not fear about grabbing their job reservation quotas currently enforced in Manipur which will remain status quo. And if any job opportunity should arise it will be on an All India basis where the Meities will be competing with other advanced tribes of India like the Bheels for instance.
“Both the Naga and Kuki Communities of Manipur are at liberty to condemn the Manipur High Court for giving the directive to the Manipur Government to that effect”, the KKL said.
