The World Meetei Council (WMC) Assam State Unit in association with Manipuri Basti Meira Paibi (MBMP), Manipuri Rajbari Students’ Union (MRSU), United Manipuri Association Assam (UMAA) and Achanba Lup (AL) carried out a protest demonstration demanding Scheduled Tribe status for Meetei in Assam at Manipuri Rajbari, Guwahati on Sunday.
The protestors urged CM Biren to send the two reports for ST that are the latest Socio-economic and Ethnographic reports of Meetei to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India without further delay.
In a press release, WMC Assam State Unit general secretary L Pankaj Singh said that the Meetei community living in Assam have been demanding for ST status to protect the identity of Meetei much earlier than the Manipur Meetei’s demand for ST status.
It lamented that their demand is being kept in abeyance, while reflecting on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s statement which said that he will take necessary action for their inclusion in the ST list of the Indian constitution the next day the Meetei of Manipur become ST.
It asserted that they can be included in the ST list only after the Meetei in Manipur become ST and added that only the ST status will protect them. It reiterated its appeal to the Manipur CM to send the two needed reports to ensure that the process of inclusion of the Meetei in the ST list is completed before the 2026 delimitation,
