Imphal, Aug 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) Manipur's opposition Congress on Thursday said that the Centre can resolve any issue concerning the state, including the updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), within two to three months if it has the commitment and determination to work for the welfare and betterment of the people.
"If the Union Government wants, the updation of the NRC and resolution of other crucial issues of Manipur are not a big problem for it. The NRC should be updated first before Census-2027 is conducted. If required, the Constitution should be amended," Congress state President Okram Ibobi Singh, a three-term Chief Minister of Manipur (2002-2017), told the media.
The real issue is the Centre's ignorance and indifference towards the problems and issues confronting the people of the state, the veteran Congress leader said.
"How many houses were destroyed during the ethnic conflict? How would you then carry out house-listing as part of the Census? How would you count the 60,000 violence-affected Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) residing in various relief camps ?" he asked.
Questioning the feasibility of conducting the Houselisting and Housing Census amid the continuing displacement caused by the ethnic conflict, he also asked how the houses destroyed during the violence would be accounted for in the house-listing exercise.
Meanwhile, a joint delegation comprising representatives of 14 civil society organisations (CSOs) and members of the Naga, Kom, and Meitei Pangal communities left Imphal on Thursday for New Delhi to seek the Centre’s intervention on the updation of the NRC and the pending Census exercise in Manipur.
The members of the delegation said that they would hold meetings with Central BJP leaders and Ministers and place before them the concerns and demands of the people of the state.
The delegation also plans to seek a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The delegation stressed that identification of genuine Indian citizens through the NRC should precede the pending delimitation exercise in the state.
"We want a discussion, not a confrontation, and seek an understanding on these issues while keeping the interests of the people of Manipur in mind,” Serto Hao Kom, President of the Kom Union Manipur, told the media here.
The organisations included the Kabui Union, Rongmei Naga Youth Organisation, Manipur, and All Manipur Muslim Organisations Coordinating Committee (AMMOCOC).
Meanwhile, a large number of students staged a protest rally at Thangmeiband in Imphal to press for the updation of the NRC. They raised the slogan “No NRC, No Census” and also demanded that the Census should not be conducted before the IDPs return to their homes.
Several district administrations in the Imphal Valley region of Manipur have either deferred or cancelled the training programmes for enumerators and supervisors under Census-2027 amid protests demanding the updation of the NRC. A Home Department official said that the three-day training programme under the first phase of the Census exercise was scheduled to begin on August 20. However, similar training programmes had already started in different districts in the mountainous region of the state.
Source: IANS
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