Manipur Meiteis’ demand for ST status: Women vendors stage protest

The demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for Meiteis in Manipur is growing louder with each passing day.  Women vendors of Kakwa Market in Imphal West staged a sit-in protest

The demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for Meiteis in Manipur is growing louder with each passing day. 

Women vendors of Kakwa Market in Imphal West staged a sit-in protest today along with the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur or STDCM, demanding the inclusion of Meiteis in the ST list.

Northeast Live team was at ground zero earlier today and spoke to the executive committee member of the STDCM. 

Speaking to Northeast Live, a member expressed her concerns and said in the absence of a constitutional safeguard to protect the community, there will always be apprehensions about whether the indigenous Meitei community will be driven out from its own land.

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Further, she also said that the ILP alone cannot protect the Meitei community from the influx of immigrants and demanded the government to take necessary steps for the community to be recognised as a scheduled tribe.

Meanwhile, the leader of STDCM youth wing, Nameirakpam Edison said that the committee will soon expand the protest in other Meitei inhabited valley districts other than the twin Imphal districts.

He warned the government not to invite violent forms of agitation and to send the necessary documents for inclusion of Meitei in the ST list at the earliest.

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