The deafening silence of the 20 tribal MLAs on the matter for many months when their Meitei counterparts have come out openly is raising lots of questions, the ATSUM stated.
Meetei-Pangal Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee said a strong movement will be launched to raise the demand upon the state government to make Manipur an inclusive scheduled tribe state as a whole from January 27.
The agitation, which lasted for around 30 minutes, caused a huge traffic congestion along the roads of Lamlong Bazar. Ironically, no security personnel was seen turning up to control the mob.
Meetei community regretted putting the case of ‘Meetei tribe’ in the General category after Manipur being merged to the Union of India, says MTU secretary (adm) M Churamani.
The Kuki students' apex body of Manipur said that the demand for inclusion of Meitei/Meetei under the Scheduled Tribe category is considered with the "greatest trepidation" from the tribal communities of the state.