Imphal: Hundreds of protesters, mostly women, from across Manipur, staged massive agitations in Imphal on Wednesday, demanding identification of illegal immigrants and implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or any other exercise before the census in the state.
As per reports, the protestors under the aegis of the Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) gathered at Ima Market in Imphal to protest against the census exercise.
Tensions escalated after a scuffle broke out between demonstrators and security personnel when the agitators tried to march outside the Khwairamband market, one of the largest women-run markets in the country.
This prompted the police to fire several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the mob, reports said. Five persons reportedly sustained minor injuries during the protest.
The protesters criticised the government’s decision to begin the census exercise, claiming that it overlooked their long-standing demand to first update the NRC and identify illegal immigrants in Manipur.
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They stated that they had repeatedly appealed to the authorities to refrain from conducting the census until the process of identifying alleged illegal immigrants living among indigenous communities is completed.
Naorem Wangamba, Assistant Secretary (Organisation) of the JFD, stated that the organisation is demanding a “Just and Fair Census” coupled with a transparent delimitation process. He emphasised the JFD’s demand to defer the ongoing census until illegal immigrants are properly identified, using 1951 as the base cut-off year.
Wangamba warned that if the census proceeds without segregating illegal immigrants, there is a risk they could be legalised as bona fide Indian citizens, a move he claimed would violate both the truth and the Constitution.
