The Manipur government on Monday said the central government has decided to defer the census exercise in the state following a meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah.
A state government statement said the meeting chaired by Shah in the national capital was attended, among others, by governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla and chief minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh.
“The meeting discussed in detail the demand raised by the people of Manipur to defer the Census exercise in the State before the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The meeting agreed to defer the proposed Census exercise in the State considering the feelings and aspirations of the people of Manipur,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is yet to issue a statement.
The first phase of Census 2027 (house listing) in Manipur was scheduled to start from September 1 and continue till September 30. But protests against the exercise in the state had even disrupted the training of census workers. Officials said the facility for self-enumeration for house listing, which was scheduled to open on August 17, had also been deferred.
Manipur has been roiled by protests related to the census exercise, with a large section of people (non-Kuki-Zo) demanding the government compile the National Register of Citizens (with the base year of 1951) before conducting the official headcount.
{{/usCountry}}Manipur has been roiled by protests related to the census exercise, with a large section of people (non-Kuki-Zo) demanding the government compile the National Register of Citizens (with the base year of 1951) before conducting the official headcount.
{{/usCountry}}Fourteen civil society organisations (CSO) representing Meitei, Naga and Meitei Panggal communities have approached senior political leaders to demand that the citizenship register be compiled before the census to identify infiltrators. To be sure, the 14 CSOs do not represent the Kuki-Zo communities.
The CSOs have argued that many illegal migrants from Myanmar have settled in some parts of the state and would be counted as residents, leading to the portrayal of an incorrect situation on the ground.
The CSOs had met BJP president Nitin Nabin and other union ministers to press their demand.
In its statement on Monday, the chief minister’s office thanked the leaders of the 14 CSOs and the delegation of BJP MLAs, who recently campaigned in New Delhi for the implementation of the NRC in Manipur.
“The Chief Minister said that their regular engagement with central leaders and officials has resulted in today’s decision. Calling bandhs and general strikes will not help in pressing demands before the Government and added that such actions would cause more hardship to the common people. Instead, he urged civil society groups to continue dialogue and extend full cooperation to the administration in addressing the socio-political challenges of the State. The government is for the people, and any issue of the state should be consulted with the government for getting a better solution,” the CM’s office said.