Demand for population commission after ILP euphoria
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 31, 2022 -

THE proposal/demand by six student bodies to the government of Manipur for setting up a state population commission for long-term monitoring of the non-local population in the state and the changes associated with it is reminiscent of the Assam agitation in the 1970s.

Among the north-eastern states, anxieties about land, culture and migration have been creating entrenched fissures in the social and political life of Manipur, Assam and Tripura.

In case of Assam, people on all sides of the bitter divides had hoped that the conclusion of the six-year-long process of updating the 1951 citizen's register would finally resolve the long-festering dispute.

But despite the immeasurable toll of human suffering that the process extracted from millions of impoverished people, it is now clear that the National Register of Citizens has resolved nothing.

In Manipur's context, the public movement for constitutional safeguard of the indigenous communities' has been put to rest, at-least for now, after the Union government re-introduced the inner line permit system.

Nevertheless, many civil societies have been branding the ILP regulation as a toothless legislation and demanding incorporation of more stringent provisions to ensure that the system serves the real purpose.

Compared to surviving supporters of the then Assam agitation, who see NRC as an article or exercise of faith that millions of immigrants from Bangladesh have continued to illegally penetrate the porous Indo-Bangladesh border, Manipur's civil societies, including the student organisations, believe that the ILP sans the cut-off year to segregate the indigenes from the non-locals would not help tackle the imminent demographic changes after some years.

Regardless of the government leaders proclaiming that implementation of ILP is testament of the centre's preparedness to address any outstanding issue, the evolving situation arising out of constant increase in the population of non-locals and presence of certain elements advocating divisions of land and resources on community lines has only led to strong suspicion that merely regulating entry and exit of non-locals contradicts the core demand, which is to officially proclaim the base year under which endemism of communities or tribes could be determined.

There is substance for demanding clarity on who should be classified as indigenes and those whose residency in the state should be verified as natives of Manipur as one could clearly visualise these immigrants submerging their culture and language and edging indigenes out of their lands and forests in a few decades' time.

Such apprehension is exactly the reason for presidents of six student bodies - All Manipur Students' Onion, Apunba Ireipakki Maheiroi Singpang Lup, Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur, Kangleipak Students' Association, Manipuri Students' Federation and Students' Union of Kangleipak reiterating their demand for establishment of a state population commission to identify non-natives and prevent the latter from attempting to rewrite history and mislead the future generation with regard to the state's integrity.

With the ILP regime construed as ineffective, it is but natural to propose relevant processes for maintaining a National Registrar of Citizens for Manipur with a specific base year.

Regardless of the same exercise in Assam evoking mixed reaction and alleging procedural lapse, it must be taken into account that the NRC has been successful in identifying lakhs of infiltrators from Bangladesh, thereby validating agitation by the concerned Assamese.