Census exercise & call for deferment
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The call made by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation to local politicians, particularly MLAs and Ministers, to stop patronizing and sheltering illegal immigrants merits a thorough deliberation. With the Government of India poised to start census operations from April 2026, several civil society organisations have raised strong and unequivocal objections against the planned census operations. Some of the CSOs have gone a step further by announcing mass agitation if the scheduled census operations are not deferred. The CSOs have made it clear that they have no objection to the census exercise per se but it should be preceded by identification and deportation of all illegal immigrants from the state. The call to first identify illegal immigrants is fuelled by genuine and legitimate concerns over the threats posed by illegal immigrants to indigenous people. It was none other than Union Home Minister Amit Shah who stated that illegal immigrants had their hands in the violent Manipur crisis which erupted on May 3, 2023. As testified by the prolonged violent crisis in which illegal immigrants played a key role as admitted by the Union Home Minister, the threats posed by illegal immigrants to the indigenous people are no longer a figment of imagination but a harsh reality. Influx of immigrants is not something new in Manipur but it has been going on for decades. At the height of the violent crisis, then Chief Minister N Biren revealed that 996 villages sprang up across Manipur since 2006. N Biren went on to assert that these new villages were set up by illegal immigrants after encroaching into forests and unsurveyed hill areas. For quite a long time, the influx has been going on and people have a nagging suspicion whether the immigration and settlement of immigrants are patronized by local politicians. Herein lies the significance of the call made by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation to local politicians to stop patronizing and sheltering illegal immigrants. In case, some local politicians have been indeed patronizing immigration and settlement of immigrants, identification and deportation of the illegal immigrants will be quite tricky unless the politicians rise above vote bank politics.
Another reason cited by the CSOs in support of their demand for deferring the census operations is the current situation of Manipur where people including government employees cannot move freely. The law and order situation was much better in 2001 and the preceding years as compared to today. Even then, the census operations were twisted and the whole exercise came up with gross errors and outrageous data. The controversial census data showed growth rate of 143 per cent in some sub-divisions of the hill districts. Acknowledging these gross errors in the census figures of 2001, the then Delimitation Commission deferred the census exercise till 2026. But the current situation is quite volatile and insecure, and not at all conducive for population enumeration. Under the prevailing situation, it is hard to imagine any government official going to remote hill areas and collecting factual and accurate data. Already, illegal immigrants have been posing serious demographic, socio-political, economic and security challenges to the indigenous people. It was these challenges which gave rise to a vigorous campaign for updating the National Register of Citizens or NRC in short with respect to Manipur. The fundamental idea pushing the campaign for NRC is identification of illegal immigrants. If the challenges posed by illegal immigrants must be addressed comprehensively, they must be identified and deported. If not, they must not be given citizenship rights. However, if the census operations are carried out without first updating the NRC or identifying the illegal immigrants, there is a strong possibility of legalizing the illegal immigrants, naturalizing their citizenship and in turn, legitimizing their political demands. Considering all these implications, the demand for deferring the census operations deserves in-depth analysis and impartial action.
Another reason cited by the CSOs in support of their demand for deferring the census operations is the current situation of Manipur where people including government employees cannot move freely. The law and order situation was much better in 2001 and the preceding years as compared to today. Even then, the census operations were twisted and the whole exercise came up with gross errors and outrageous data. The controversial census data showed growth rate of 143 per cent in some sub-divisions of the hill districts. Acknowledging these gross errors in the census figures of 2001, the then Delimitation Commission deferred the census exercise till 2026. But the current situation is quite volatile and insecure, and not at all conducive for population enumeration. Under the prevailing situation, it is hard to imagine any government official going to remote hill areas and collecting factual and accurate data. Already, illegal immigrants have been posing serious demographic, socio-political, economic and security challenges to the indigenous people. It was these challenges which gave rise to a vigorous campaign for updating the National Register of Citizens or NRC in short with respect to Manipur. The fundamental idea pushing the campaign for NRC is identification of illegal immigrants. If the challenges posed by illegal immigrants must be addressed comprehensively, they must be identified and deported. If not, they must not be given citizenship rights. However, if the census operations are carried out without first updating the NRC or identifying the illegal immigrants, there is a strong possibility of legalizing the illegal immigrants, naturalizing their citizenship and in turn, legitimizing their political demands. Considering all these implications, the demand for deferring the census operations deserves in-depth analysis and impartial action.