WHY WE REJECT NRC IN MANIPUR

THE debate on National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur has been raised again. As indigenous people of this land, our position is very clear: We totally reject NRC in Manipur.

At first glance, NRC sounds like a genuine exercise to detect illegal immigrants. But in Manipur, it is not. It is a political weapon designed to target hill people, to brand indigenous people as foreigners, and to justify land grabbing in the hills in the name of reserved forest and eviction.

We are not foreigners in our own land

Our people have lived in these hills since time immemorial, centuries before Manipur merged with India in 1949. Our villages are not new. Most of our villages were officially recognized under the Village Authorities Act in 1956. We have church baptism records, village chief records, and Autonomous District Council house-tax receipts from the early 1960s to prove our existence.

The demand to make 1951 as the base year for NRC is deliberate. It is to ensure that thousands of genuine families who took shelter during political upheavals in the neighbouring country due to military coups are declared illegal. How can a community whose villages were recognized by the Government itself in 1956 be called foreigners with a 1951 cut-off?

NRC is unconstitutional

Our opposition is not emotional, it is based on the Constitution of India.

First, it violates Article 14 – Right to Equality. NRC is demanded only for Manipur and only to check people living in hill areas. Law cannot be applied selectively to target one community. That is discrimination. If NRC is needed, it must be for the whole of India with one uniform base year.

Second, it violates Article 21 – Right to Life. If our people are declared foreigners through NRC, we will lose our citizenship, our right to vote, our land patta, our home and our livelihood. In Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India, the Supreme Court held that any procedure that deprives life must be just, fair and reasonable. NRC with 1951 cut-off is arbitrary and unreasonable.

Third, it violates Article 29 – Right to Conserve Culture. The India-Myanmar international border was drawn by the British in 1947 without our consent, dividing the same family, the same clan into two countries. Our cross-border family and cultural ties are protected under Article 29. NRC seeks to criminalize those ties.

Fourth, it violates Article 371C – Special Protection to Hill Areas. Under Article 371C, any matter affecting Hill Areas must be referred to the Hill Areas Committee (HAC). NRC directly affects land, settlement and identity of hill people. Implementing NRC without HAC consent is unconstitutional.

Enough mechanisms already exist

Manipur already has Inner Line Permit (ILP) since 2019, biometric registration of refugees by the Ministry of Home Affairs, border fencing, strict checking by Assam Rifles, and Foreigners Check Post at Moreh. What is the need for another exercise like NRC? The only purpose is harassment.

If the Government is serious about illegal immigration, it should strengthen ILP and border fencing. Let it implement NRC for the whole of India if needed. Why only Manipur? Why only the hills?

Our demand is clear:

1. Complete rejection of NRC in Manipur.

2. If NRC is unavoidable, the base year must be 1971 like in Assam, not 1951, and it must be for the whole country.

3. No NRC exercise without the consent of Hill Areas Committee and all Autonomous District Councils.

4. Recognition of all villages established before 2006 under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

5. Humanitarian protection for people who fled military persecution and have lived here for 10+ years.

NRC in Manipur will not solve illegal immigration. It will only create a new humanitarian crisis, make indigenous people stateless, and further divide the people of Manipur.

We will oppose it democratically and legally, from the village to the Supreme Court.

~ LL Chwote

Courtesy: UKC