More than two lakhs people on Sunday turned up in Imphal to participate in the Mass Protest Rally organised by Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee (STDC) which is demanding Scheduled Tribe status for ethnic Meiteis or Meeteis community of Manipur.
The massive rally covered 3 kms from Thangmeiband area to Hapta Kangjeibung. Addressing the gathering, Convenor Laishram Romesh said, "It has been six years that we have been demanding ST status, but both the BJP government and its predecessor Congress had not even considered forwarding a recommendation to the Centre, to have the community enlisted under ST category."
Laishram said that their objective is to "save the land and seek constitutional safeguard for the ethnic Meiteis/Meeteis."
The demand for ST status stemmed from the notion that the indigenous people of the state is gradually being marginalized by illegal immigrants, and huge possibility to being rendered a minority in its own State, said Laishram.
