Manipur to pursue 1951 as base year for NRC with Centre: Home Minister

Imphal: Manipur Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas Singh on Monday told that 1951 will be the base year for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state and that the state government will pursue the matter with the Centre in accordance with resolutions adopted by the State Assembly.

The Home Minister in the House was replying to a query raised by Opposition Congress MLA Keisham Meghachandra Singh regarding the updation of the NRC in Manipur and the original physical records of the 1951 NRC.

He told the House that the records of the 1951 NRC are being traced.

Govindas Singh said that the state government alone cannot implement the NRC without the approval of the Union government.

“As per the resolution adopted by the House on August 5, 2022, the Manipur State Population Commission has already been constituted,” he added.

The Home Minister said that the issue of NRC should not be taken lightly and the NRC has been implemented in Assam, but it could not still be kept in the public domain.

The matter has been pending in the court, he said, adding that the state government has already pursued the Central government to introduce the NRC in the state.

“The state government again pursued the Central government as per the Assembly resolution on March 1, 2024, reaffirming its earlier resolution. Again on September 2, 2026, the House unanimously passed a resolution reaffirming its earlier decisions. We need to cautiously move the Centre so that it would not fail like that in Assam,” Govindas Singh added.

Meanwhile, the state Assembly’s latest move on September 2 came amid massive agitations by various Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), mainly in the five districts of the Imphal Valley region — Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Bishnupur and Kakching — demanding the updation of the NRC before the conduct of Census-2027.

The Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (CJFD) and various other CSOs have been holding massive agitations in the Imphal Valley region since August 17, demanding the updation of the NRC before the Census exercise is undertaken.

A day before its pre-schedule start, the Central government on August 31 announced to defer the Census-2027 exercise in Manipur amid continuing protests and demands by various CSOs for the updation of the NRC before the conduct of the Census-2027 in the state.

Meanwhile, the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), the apex body of the Kuki-Zo tribal community in Manipur, has strongly opposed the demand for the updation of the NRC before the Census operations in 2027.

KZC Spokesperson Ginza Vualzong had said that there is no constitutional provision for conducting an NRC exercise exclusively in a particular state.

“The NRC is a national exercise. The Assam NRC was undertaken pursuant to the Assam Accord of 1985. Therefore, any attempt to conduct an NRC exclusively in Manipur is not only discriminatory but also unconstitutional,” he added.

IANS