Sominthang Doungel, leader of the apex body of the Kuki tribe in Manipur, said the belief that non-tribal Meitei people cannot settle in the State’s hills was a myth.
Mr. Doungel, the chairman of the steering committee of Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) said the N. Biren Singh-led Manipur government has been strategically branding the Kuki people as “illegal immigrants” to usurp land by driving the tribals away.
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“It is a myth that the Meitei people do not have enough land. The Imphal Valley is one of the most fertile and productive plains in India and its population density is the same as in other plain areas across the country,” he told The Hindu.
“The claim that the Imphal Valley is becoming congested is because of the concentration of important government offices, eminent educational, technical, and medical institutions, and government infrastructure. On the other hand, the hill districts remain grossly neglected in terms of development and funding,” he said.
Mr. Doungel said the popular claim that Meiteis cannot settle in hill areas was baseless.
“Section 158 of the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960 restricts the non-tribals (including the Meiteis) from directly purchasing tribal land, but they can through the consent of district councils. There are many Meitei localities in the hill areas,” he said.
What the Scheduled Tribe status, as demanded by a section of the Meiteis, would do is make the consent of the district councils redundant. The ST demand was one of the major factors behind the Meitei-Kuki clashes that claimed more than 70 lives and displaced 35,000 people a fortnight ago.
Mr. Doungel slammed the State government for pushing a theory that the Kukis are “illegal immigrants” constantly crossing over from civil war-ravaged Myanmar.
“Since illegal immigrants are prohibited by laws in India from purchasing land, calling us illegal immigrants is a way of supporting the false claim that our land is not ours and that the Manipur government should take control of it,” he added.
“By virtue of Article 5 of the Constitution of India, we are citizens of India by birth, by descent, and by residing in our country for more than five years. The ‘illegal immigrant’ narrative is purely racist and anti-tribal, sold to usurp our ancestral lands,” the KIM leader said.
