IMPHAL: The central government has reportedly asked the Manipur government to consider delisting Kuki and Zomi communities from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list.
According to reports, the Centre made this request to the Manipur government following a representation from Republican Party of India-Athawale (RPI-A) leader Maheshwar Thounaojam.
The RPI leader, in his representation to the Centre, claimed that the Kukis and Zomis are not original inhabitants of India and are refugees, hence it is illegal to grant them ST status.
Thounaojam wrote to union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda on December 11 last year stating that indigeneity should be the main criterion to define Scheduled Tribes.
He also requested the Centre to accordingly determine “who should be correctly in the Scheduled Tribes list of Manipur”, while making a case for the inclusion of Meiteis.
Following this, the Centre sent the representation to the Manipur government, saying that the state’s recommendations are a prerequisite to process the case.
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In another representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November last year the World Meetei Council claimed that the Kuki-Chin community in Manipur had migrated from Myanmar.
It stated that the migrated Kuki-Chin community was allowed to settle in Manipur on humanitarian grounds under the refugee settlement policy.
“However, when the Chin-Kuki groups of people got settled down in Manipur they became trouble creators, even working to carve out an independent homeland, which they call as Zalengam,” the Council had argued.
It may be mentioned here that the Meitei community in Manipur – which is a majority in the Northeast state – has been demanding ST status.
The current strife and eight-month-long violence in Manipur was a result of a Manipur high court directive to the state government to send a recommendation on ST status for Meiteis to the Centre.
Over 200 people have been killed in the state since the ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities started and nearly 60,000 persons have been forced to flee their homes.