JCILPS demands status report of MP Bill
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 10 2019: The JCILPS has demanded the State Government to bring out an updated status report of the Manipur People Bill 2018 by August 16.Speaking to media persons at their Sega Road, Konjeng Hazari Leikai office this afternoon, JCILPS convenor Yumnamcha Dilipkumar said that they submitted a three-point memorandum to Chief Minister N Biren yesterday.

Even though the Manipur Legislative Assembly passed the Manipur People Bill on July 23, 2018, the Bill is still lying in the custody of the President of India, he lamented.

JCILPS demands status report of MP Bill

In the run up to the Lok Sabha election, the State Government enthusiastically assured that they would urge for presidential assent to the Bill and all other demands of JCILPS would be transformed into action.

After the responsibility of pursuing Manipur People Bill 2018 was entrusted to Manipur Democratic Alliance (MDA), of which BJP is also a constituent member, teams of MDA made many trips to Delhi in connection with the pending Bill, he noted.

However, the way the State Government has been dealing with the Bill smacks of a nonchalant attitude and this is nothing but invitation for a renewed mass agitation, Dilipkumar said.

Pointing out that the President gave his assent to the UAP (Amendment) Act 2019 immediately, the JCILPS convenor questioned whether the Government of India has been deliberately holding back the MP Bill so as to suppress the people of Manipur for good.

He then asked the State Government to come out with an updated status report of MP Bill 2018 by August 16.At different public functions, Chief Minister N Biren stated that the State Cabinet has adopted a resolution to set up a Manipur State Population Commission but the JCILPS is yet to receive any formal notification from the State Government regarding the Cabinet decision, he said.

He appealed to the State Government to provide a copy of the Cabinet resolution if any such resolution has been adopted and include the matter in the business list of the forthcoming Assembly session.

Although the Central Government has announced that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would be updated for each and every State, there are certain differences between updating NRC and the demands of JCILPS, he said.

It appears that the Central Government has an intention of updating NRC after passing CAB and granting citizenship to all illegal immigrants.

However, JCILPS would never accept CAB.

Even if the NRC is updated for Manipur, all those people who immigrated to the State after 1951 should be categorised as illegal immigrants, Dilipkumar asserted.

The State's NRC 1951 has been already taken into the custody of the Ministry of Home Affairs as a classified document although the State Government never bothered to find it.

Either the NRC should be updated or a Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Manipur (RIIM) should be compiled in consultation with CSOs and the general public, Dilipkumar demanded.

He said that these demands have been submitted to the Chief Minister in the form of a memorandum.

If a definite response to the demands is not received from the Government, JCILPS would launch renewed mass agitation, he added.