Representatives of 14 civil society organisations (CSOs), joined by community bodies including the Kom Union, Kabui Union, Rongmei Union, Meitei Pangal bodies, Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, today called on Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla at Lok Bhavan, seeking his intervention to secure a political decision from the Centre on the detection of illegal immigrants in Manipur.
The delegation urged the Governor to facilitate a meeting with political leaders in New Delhi to determine whether illegal immigrants should be identified through the Foreigners Act or by conducting the National Register of Citizens (NRC), saying the issue could no longer be left unresolved while the Census and delimitation processes move ahead.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, convenor of the 14 CSOs, Shanta Nahakpam, said the Governor had responded positively and assured the delegation that efforts would be made to arrange a meeting with political leaders in Delhi.
Shanta said the CSOs had specifically urged the Governor to ensure that delimitation in Manipur remains frozen until illegal immigrants are detected, citing the experience of Assam, where the NRC exercise was undertaken but delimitation proceeded before the process was completed.
He said the people of Manipur wanted a clear political decision on the mechanism for identifying illegal immigrants rather than prolonged administrative discussions without a definite outcome.
According to Shanta, the state government had recently convened a two-day conference on the NRC and Census issue, during which the position emerging from the deliberations was that the Census should not proceed unless the NRC is conducted or illegal immigrants are identified through an appropriate legal mechanism.
“The people want a complete political decision on the detection of illegal immigrants,” Shanta said, adding that the CSOs would now seek to take the issue directly to political leaders in New Delhi.
The delegation’s intervention comes as the government’s Census preparations enter a critical phase, with self-enumeration scheduled to begin today. However, as of the filing of this report, the Census self-enumeration web portal had not become operational.
The CSOs maintained that identifying illegal immigrants is fundamental to ensuring the credibility of demographic exercises and any subsequent delimitation process in the state.
The Governor’s reported assurance to facilitate political-level discussions in New Delhi has given the organisations a new avenue to press their demand, with the delegation indicating that it would pursue the matter with the Centre and political leadership.
The demand places the NRC, illegal immigration, Census and delimitation at the centre of a growing political confrontation in Manipur, with civil society groups insisting that demographic and electoral exercises should not proceed without first addressing the question of illegal immigration.
