The growing voice to defer census
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It’s no longer a voice of a particular section of the society or a community. Of course, we are referring to the voice demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants from Manipur before going ahead with the government’s scheduled census exercise. With different communities coming out in support of the particular demand, the voice is growing louder and louder, and it is fast becoming a collective voice of almost all communities, albeit with the exception of a few. If the authorities fail to take heed of this collective voice, we fear, Manipur may face very turbulent days in the near future. At the same time, it will be a very costly blunder and sheer irresponsibility if the state simply opts to dismiss the collective voice and forcibly conduct the census exercise. Even if the state is determined to go ahead with the scheduled census exercise or has no intention to succumb to the public pressure, it must come out with an unequivocal and convincing explanation as to why the census exercise must go ahead as per the schedule. Of course, census is a nation-wide exercise but there can be exceptions and there have been many exceptions in the past too. If the state government’s will to go ahead with the census operation as per the schedule is based on the premise that the ‘order’ comes from New Delhi, it will be nothing short of betraying the people of the state. Moreover, the current situation is quite volatile and not at all conducive for conducting census operations with tens of thousands of people staying away from their native villages in relief camps and other safer places. How could officials conduct house listing of these displaced persons after their houses had been burnt down and their villages flattened? Under the prevailing situation, as reflected earlier, it is hard to imagine any government official going to remote hill areas and collecting factual and accurate data. As a responsible government, the incumbent government needs to look into the concerns and apprehensions raised by the people and it must acknowledge the challenges and threats posed by the growing population of illegal immigrants to the indigenous people. 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 which erupted on May 3, 2023, the former Chief Minister revealed that 996 villages sprang up across Manipur since 2006. He 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 civil society organisations 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. The people’s demand to first update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before conducting census operations in Manipur needs thorough examination objectively. 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 NRC 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. This will have serious ramifications and disastrous consequences to the indigenous people, irrespective of community and ethnicity, which will be irreversible.
Influx of immigrants is not something new in Manipur but it has been going on for decades. At the height of the violent crisis which erupted on May 3, 2023, the former Chief Minister revealed that 996 villages sprang up across Manipur since 2006. He 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 civil society organisations 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. The people’s demand to first update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before conducting census operations in Manipur needs thorough examination objectively. 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 NRC 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. This will have serious ramifications and disastrous consequences to the indigenous people, irrespective of community and ethnicity, which will be irreversible.