STDCM threatens to boycott political parties

Newmai News Network

Imphal | March 1

Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) of the Meitei community has threatened to boycott political parties in the Manipur Government if the latter fails to submit a recommendation to the Centre for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe list. The committee further warned of boycotting other political parties if they do not take initiative in pressing the state government for sending the recommendation.

“The state government must send the recommendation before the Model Code of Conduct for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections comes into force. If it fails, we will boycott the ruling political parties in the state”, convenor of Coordinating Committee of STDCM, Laishram Romesh warned on Friday.

Speaking to media persons at STDCM office in Imphal, the STDCM convenor alleged that even as Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said that the demand for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei in the ST list of India is reasonable, the state government is delaying in recommending to the Centre till date. “If the state government fails to do so before the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections, we will boycott the political parties in the ruling coalition government”, he added.

Other political parties who are not interested in the demand raised by the STDCM may also face the wrath of the STDCM, Romesh also said.

The STDCM convenor then recalled that the campaign for inclusion of Meetei/Meitei was started in 2011 but the government was not paying any heed till today. “The ST status demand for the Meetei/Meitei community is to get constitutional safeguard of the community as in the case of other tribes in the state,” Romesh also said. Asserting that almost all the indigenous communities living in the north-eastern region have secured the ST status, he said that only the Meetei/Meitei is left out from the list.

“Our demand is genuine and constitutionally right,” said the STDCM leader and added that they will continue with their demand till they achieve it. During the press conference, in which leaders of the STDCM and other civil society organisations and student bodies present, the STDCM convenor appealed the people across the valley to take part in the proposed public rally on March 3.

Earlier, a motorcycle rally to mobilise the people to take part in the proposed March 3 rally was carried out on the streets in Imphal. During the rally, various placards which read as “No ST, No vote”, “Save the indigenous people”, “We demand ST status for Meetei/Meitei”, “Save Manipur save indigenous people,” are used.

While flagging off the rally, STDCM convenor Laishram Romesh asserted that the proposed March 3 public rally is an important one to decide the future of the Meetei/Meitei community settling across the six valley districts of the state. Laishram then appealed to all civil society organisations, political parties and people of all walks of life to participate in the rally and extend moral, physical and monetary supports to the rally.

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