IDPs oppose census, hold protest meet in Imphal East

Imphal: The Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation, along with internally displaced persons (IDPs), held a protest meeting on Friday at the pre-fabricated relief camp at Shajiwa in Imphal East, where the IDPs expressed strong disapproval of the govt’s push for census in the state while thousands are still living at relief camps.

JFD convener Jeetendra Ningomba questioned how the census operations would be conducted when several houses were razed to the ground and thousands of people are still suffering in relief camps due to the conflict. Ningomba also highlighted apprehensions regarding the presence of illegal immigrants in the state and called for the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) prior to the census to detect illegal immigrants.





An IDP from Ekou in Imphal East, Khoirom Dharmen, said IDPs are not against the census but made it clear such an exercise should not be conducted before the IDPs are resettled to their original places.