Imphal: The situation across Manipur worsened during large-scale protests demanding implementation of NRC ahead of the census. The state government has ordered closure of all educational institutions for three days, as tensions mount after an intensive protest demanding update of National Register of Citizens (NRC) with 1951 as the base year.
The Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD), local civil society groups intensified as the government was scheduling training sessions for census workers. The trainings have been cancelled in several valley districts since. Civil society bodies have called for a two-day shutdown starting Tuesday. From Thursday, it also announced a boycott of central and state government offices in support of the NRC demand.
Hundreds of students have taken to the streets in Imphal, pushing for the NRC to be completed before the Census begins. The house-listing phase of Census 2027 in Manipur is set to run from September 1 to September 30, with a self-enumeration window open from August 17 to August 31.
Meanwhile, representatives of 14 CSOs which included Meiteis, Nagas, Kom and Meitei Pangal (Muslim) arrived in Delhi on 20th August to engage with the Central government to demand NRC implementation before Census begins. The delegation is likely to meet Union ministers, BJP leaders and senior officials to press their case. A separate group of ruling BJP MLAs had already left for Delhi a day earlier, on Wednesday, to raise the same issue with the central leadership.
The two-day bandh called by JFD brought life to a near-standstill across the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley. Meitei organisations have long demanded an NRC to weed out undocumented migrants who they say entered Manipur after 1951 from neighbouring countries, calling them a threat to the state’s original inhabitants. Other communities including Naga, Kom etc are also raising the same demand whereas the Kuki community is opposing it.
The NRC row is only the latest flashpoint in a state already scarred by ethnic conflict. Manipur has been gripped by violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities since 2023, a conflict that has since drawn in nearly every community in the state. More than 260 people have died and around 60,000 have been displaced.
During the bandh, most markets across the Imphal Valley stayed shut. Protesters blocked roads and key streets, forcing schools, colleges, public transport and banks to suspend operations. In parts of Imphal West and Imphal East, some shopkeepers who tried to defy the shutdown had their vegetable stalls vandalised by bandh supporters.
Security forces were stationed at sensitive locations across the valley as a precaution against damage to public property. This isn’t the first time Manipur’s assembly has weighed in on the issue. In 2022, much before the ongoing ethnic crisis and the Census exercise started, the Manipur state assembly had unanimously passed a resolution for updation of NRC. In fact a sub committee was formed which was headed by Kuki Zo Minister Letpao Haokip. It should be mentioned that the Meitei and Naga communities are demanding for NRC implementation for a long time and they have accused that unchecked infiltration from neighbouring Myanmar has altered the demography of the state. These civil society bodies have also accused that illegal infiltrators from Myanmar enter Manipur and acquire local documents in a forged manner and become native Scheduled Tribe in the state and enjoy all the facilities meant for Indian ST population depriving the local populations. Only the implementation of NRC correctly can solve this crisis, they said.
