Political parties ignore Meiteis demand to be recognised as ST

Political parties contesting the elections in Manipur are silent over the demand of the Meitei community to be recognised as a Scheduled Tribe (ST), with no mention of the demand in the manifestoes of any of the political parties.

Till 1935, the Meiteis were recorded as Scheduled Tribes and the community leaders had demanded in 1950, at the time of the drafting of the Constitution, that Meiteis should be included in the list of Scheduled Tribe. However, some members of the community feel that they are an upper caste and are opposed to being identified as a Scheduled Tribe. While most of the Meiteis following Hinduism, around eight per cent of the population follow Islam.

Meiteis were recognised as Other Backward Class in 1991.