MMTU calls upon all to thwart census ops
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 13 2026:
The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has called upon one and all to stand firm and thwart census operations in Manipur.
Speaking to media persons at Manipur Press Club here today, MMTU Secretary Organisation Takhellambam Parijat said that the scheduled census operations will give a permanent space to lakhs of illegal immigrants in Manipur, and push the indigenous people to the brink of extinction.
Calling upon all the CSOs and the public leaders to understand the core issues, Parijat said that the indigenous people will face insurmountable challenges politically, economically and culturally if the influx of illegal immigrants is not checked immediately.
He asserted that all the illegal immigrants must be identified based on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of 1951 which covered Manipur too.
He said that people were registered in the NRC 1951 based on 11 documents.
He asserted that carrying out census operations without first identifying and deporting illegal immigrants and executing delimitation based on erroneous or false census data are unacceptable.
The opposition against delimitation based on erroneous or false census reports is not directed against any community.
"We are only asking to follow the due process of law", he added.
He alleged that the Government of India's decision to carry out census operations in Manipur without giving any thought to the restive situation resulting from the May 3, 2023 violence and the decades old issue of illegal immigration was driven by a hidden agenda.
Parijat pointed out that the census operations were deferred in Assam in 1980 on account of the issue of illegal immigrants and also in Jammu & Kashmir in 1991 considering the State's law and order situation.
Even though a large number of illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were detected in the census exercises carried out between 1971 and 2011, the Government of India has been protecting the illegal immigrants, he alleged.
He said that lakhs of illegal immigrants have settled in 25 to 27 sub-divisions of the 68 sub-divisions in the hill districts and some areas in the valley.
These sub-divisions have registered alarming growth rates ranging from 122.64 per cent to 168.78 per cent.
This is something unseen in any part of the world, and humanely impossible, Ranjit said.
As per the National Family Health Survey, the fertility rate of Meitei community is 1.77 while that of Meitei Pangals and hill people are 2.34 and 2.94 respectively.
The Government of India's decision to carry out census operations in Manipur without first studying this illogical and humanely impossible population growth in many hill sub-divisions reeks of a hidden agenda, he asserted.
On the other hand, the 'foreigners pass system' was abolished on November 18, 1950 and a free movement regime was introduced between Manipur and Myanmar allowing people from each side to go 40 Kms inside each other's territory.
With a sinister design to protect and facilitate settlement of immigrants from Myanmar, 'Any Kuki' and 'Any Lushai' were inserted in the ST list of Manipur on September 18, 1951 .
Again, the chieftainship system made these immigrants villagers of several villages.
On the other hand, the indigenous Meitei community are being denied all kinds of constitutional safeguards including the ST status, he lamented.
He asserted that the Government of India has been deliberately suppressing the indigenous Meitei community.
Instead of enlisting the Meitei community in the ST category, the Government has been patronising and using the illegal immigrants as their vote banks, he said.
If the Government does not accept their responsibility and act decisively at such a critical situation, people must teach them a befitting lesson, he added.
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