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Manipur government team to rush to Delhi amid bandh against Census without NRC
Meitei groups have been pressing for an NRC to identify undocumented migrants who settled in Manipur after 1951 from neighbouring countries
A state government team will fly to Delhi to seek postponement of the Census in ethnic violence-hit Manipur until a National Register of Citizens (NRC) is completed, as a two-day shutdown that began on Tuesday over it paralysed most of the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley. Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD), a Meitei group opposing the Census until the NRC is done, called for the shutdown.
Meitei groups have been pressing for an NRC to identify undocumented migrants who settled in Manipur after 1951 from neighbouring countries and pose a threat to the state’s original inhabitants. Kuki organisations have accused Meiteis of trying to label them all as undocumented immigrants. In neighbouring Assam, an NRC was updated in 2019 to identify undocumented immigrants who came to the state after 1971.
Manipur has been in the throes of protracted ethnic violence since 2023, which has left over 260 people dead and displaced 60,000. The violence began between the Meitei and Kuki communities before involving almost every community. The state’s Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities have shut each other out of the areas they dominate.
The Meiteis, mostly Hindu, live largely in the Imphal valley. The Kukis, predominantly Christian, reside in the hills. Naga and Kuki-Zo tensions escalated after May 13 twin ambushes left four people dead.
On Tuesday, most markets in the Imphal Valley were shut. Bandh supporters blocked streets and major roads. Schools, colleges, educational institutions, public transport services, and banks remained shut. The bandh supporters vandalised vegetable shops as some defied the shutdown call in parts of Imphal West and Imphal East.
Security forces were deployed at key locations as part of a precautionary measure to prevent damage to public property.
Manipur government spokesperson Sapam Ranjan said a team was set to rush to Delhi to meet central leaders to press them to postpone the Census until an NRC is completed. He added that the Manipur assembly passed a unanimous resolution in August 2022 seeking an NRC before the Census, citing the demographic imbalance. In March 2024, the assembly reaffirmed the resolution.
A training programme for Census personnel was disrupted in Bishnupur on August 14.
Former chief minister Nongthombam Biren Singh said he met with Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi regarding NRC and got a “positive response”. He added that he discussed reconciliation and the demand for NRC during his stay in Delhi.
Singh said the Manipur government submitted recommendations on the issue twice in February 2023 and in 2024. He asked the people of Manipur to support the demand. Singh added that the issue should be pursued through democratic and constitutional means to safeguard the interests of the state’s indigenous population.
