The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) is all set to launch its nationwide campaign demanding inclusion of Meetei in the ST List of the Constitution of India.
MMTU Secretary Organisation, Takhellambam Parijat Singh, in a release informed that the month-long campaign will commence from Imphal on Tuesday. It stated that MMTU secretary administration, Mutum Churamani and joint secretary, Yumnam Rajeswor will lead the campaign and will participate at the forthcoming two-day Tribal conference scheduled to be held at Solan in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday and Friday.
It mentioned that the team will also meet with the Union Minister, MPs and Chief Ministers of some states, bureaucrats, religious leaders and social activists, adding that the organisation has made prior appointments to meet them.
MMTU said that many eminent persons of the state will participate in the campaign. They will brief the Meetei’s long demand for inclusion in the ST list, political and socio economy of the Meeteis during the conference organised by Tribal Coordination Front, India in which HP’s Tribal Minister is expected to be present.
It will also highlight the threats posed to the indigenous Meetei community by the influx of Kuki-zo, who illegally entered the state from Myanmar. They are included in the ST and voter list, which is illegal, MMTU said and asserted that the matter will also be discussed and campaigns will be held seeking deletion of the illegal immigrants from the ST and voter lists.
It lamented that the indigenous Meetei tribe are living in uncertainty in their own homeland. Above this, the illegal Kuki-ZOs have occupied most of the indigenous lands of the state, threatening the existence of the indigenous communities.
It maintained that including the Meeteis in the ST list and providing them Constitutional protection is the only way to safeguard the community from being annihilated. MMTU asserted that they will continue the campaign until their demands are achieved, the release added.
