Lukewarm response to NRC demand by political class
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 06, 2023 -

IF approved by the authorities concerned, the exercise for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be a gigantic task.

But considering the rapidly changing demography in the state, the demand for NRC by various student and civil society organisations and a handful of political parties seems legitimate and need of the hour, especially in the backdrop of reports about illegal immigrant and strong suspicion over attempts to bring in and naturalise foreign nationals.

The pressure on land due to burgeoning population in some parts of the state had even led to tension and violence between neighbouring villages with the parties in dispute making charges and counter charges over origin of the settlers.

As re-introduction of the inner line permit system has not lived up to the public's expectation that the regulatory mechanism would guarantee constitutional safeguard of the indigenes, various organisations have started to put faith in the NRC.

In fact, in December last, major students' bodies in Manipur submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister urging for initiation of relevant process to facilitate conduct of NRC exercise.

Though there is no response yet from the Union government, approaching the country's Prime Minister testified feeling of insecurity among the indigenous population owing to potential drastic demographic changes in the state.

In the past, the apprehension over imminent dilution of the natives' population by outsiders used to be centred on the unrestrained influx of migrant workers whereas at present it is reports of detection of foreign nationals, My-anmarese in particular, which had been making the civil societies jittery.

While spike in population of non-natives in the state is clear evidence about continuous inflow of both economic migrants and infiltrators, it is the indifferent attitude of the political class on the NRC issue that has been unnerving the civil societies and compelling to demand effective policy to prevent imminent outnumbering of the indigenes by the non-locals.

Amid such disturbing indecision among the politicians and their parties, it is commendable for Shiv Sena Manipur president M Tombi to announce that the party will pressurise the President, the Prime Minister and the Union home minister for implementation of the NRC in Manipur in view of the unabated influx of illegal immigrants and the threat posed to the indigenous people.

As of now Shiv Sena might not be a force to reckon with in the context of electoral politics in the state but its stand on the burning issue rings out the message that the tried and tested tactics of mollifying the livid civil societies with bland assurance should be done away with.

Similar to the Shiv Sena state chief M Tombi expressing that a small state like Manipur requires implementation of NRC in view of marginal population of indigenous people to avert extinction of the native people, it is suggested that all the political parties in the state keep aside their differences and apprise their respective national leaders about the ground situation in Manipur or approach the Supreme Court, as had been the case in the Assam model of the NRC which is seen as one of the best means to check the threat posed to the indigenous communities.