A state government team will fly to Delhi to seek postponement of the Census in ethnic violence-hit Manipur until a National Register of Citizens (NRC) is completed, as a two-day shutdown that began on Tuesday over it paralysed most of the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley. Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD), a Meitei group opposing the Census until the NRC is done, called for the shutdown.
He added that he discussed reconciliation and the demand for NRC during his stay in Delhi. He asked the people of Manipur to support the demand. Singh added that the issue should be pursued through democratic and constitutional means to safeguard the interests of the state’s indigenous population.
He added that the Manipur assembly passed a unanimous resolution in August 2022 seeking an NRC before the Census, citing the demographic imbalance. In March 2024, the assembly reaffirmed the resolution. A training programme for Census personnel was disrupted in Bishnupur on August 14. Singh said the Manipur government submitted recommendations on the issue twice in February 2023 and in 2024.
Manipur government spokesperson Sapam Ranjan said a team was set to rush to Delhi to meet central leaders to press them to postpone the Census until an NRC is completed. Former chief minister Nongthombam Biren Singh said he met with Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi regarding NRC and got a “positive response”.
