India Excludes Manipur from 2027 Census as Fresh Conflict Reports Emerge in the State
India's central government has formally announced that Manipur is being excluded for now from the scheduled programme of the upcoming 2027 census. According to the Home Ministry announcement, census activities in Manipur will remain suspended until a further announcement.
Several civil society organisations from the Meitei and Naga communities welcomed the government decision. They have long demanded that citizenship verification and renewal of the NRC be completed before any census.
Those organisations fear that without citizenship verification, illegal immigrants from Myanmar could also be included in the population count. They say this could have long-term effects on the state's actual demographic composition, political representation and distribution of resources.
The protesting organisations also raised concern over delimitation, the redrawing of electoral constituencies. Their demand is NRC first, then the census, and then delimitation, because population data collected without citizenship verification could affect future political representation.
Former Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh welcomed the centre's decision and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He said the step reflected the centre's commitment to protecting the interests of Manipur's indigenous peoples. The United Meitei-Pangal Committee also considered the decision important.
The Kuki-Zo Council, however, claimed that the proposal to implement the NRC before the census was unreasonable.
Meanwhile, the United Naga Council submitted a memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday demanding an end to Manipur's ongoing conflict and the establishment of lasting peace. The organisation alleged that a kind of proxy war was being waged using Kuki militant groups covered by a ceasefire agreement, and that the state's indigenous peoples were its victims.
The memorandum demanded the immediate cancellation of the centre's ceasefire agreement with Kuki militant organisations. The organisation alleged that armed groups covered by the agreement were involved in killings, extortion, land grabbing and other illegal activities.
The memorandum also said illegal immigration, narco-terrorism and the Kukis' demand for a separate administration should be considered seriously as root causes of Manipur's current crisis. Questioning the role of the Assam Rifles, the organisation demanded that the force be removed from conflict-prone and border areas and replaced with another neutral security force.
In support of the same demands, Meitei and Naga civil society organisations jointly held a large rally and march in Imphal on Saturday and Sunday. Shops, businesses and private organisations were closed in various parts of Manipur in support, and public transport did not take to the roads. Organisers said there had never before been such a large gathering to show unity among the state's indigenous communities.
Amid this, two bodies were recovered on Sunday in the hill area of Manipur's Kangpokpi district. Two Kuki residents of the district had been missing since October 29, and police, the CRPF and the Assam Rifles had been conducting operations to find them. It was not clarified, however, whether the two recovered bodies were those of the missing men.
Separately, three Kuki youths were reported killed in a Naga attack in Manipur's Noney district. Police said nothing officially about the clash, but Naga and Kuki-Zo organisations made differing claims. Local sources claimed that in a clash near Taijeikaifun village in the Nungba area between Naga Village Guards and suspected Kuki armed group members, three Kuki village guards were killed, two Kukis went missing, and three AK-series rifles and other arms and ammunition were recovered afterwards.
Kuki Inpi Manipur claimed that because the government had not ensured adequate security for vulnerable Kuki-Zo villages, local residents had been forced to come forward to defend their own areas.
