- Civil society groups of the Thadou tribe oppose Manipur census before removing Any Kuki Tribes from ST list
- The Manipur government proposed deleting Any Kuki Tribes from the ST list; parliamentary approval is pending
- Thadou groups warn the census without removing Any Kuki Tribes risks ethnic tensions and misclassification
The civil society organisations of the Thadou tribe in Manipur have drawn attention to what they called "reckless, irresponsible, and inherently dangerous" decision to start the census exercise in the border state without first removing Any Kuki Tribes (AKT) from the state's official list of Scheduled Tribes.
The Manipur government sent a proposal to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on February 8, 2023 to have the AKT category removed from the ST list, a process that needs the parliament's approval.
In a joint statement, the Thadou tribe organisations said any census exercise in Manipur before the "controversial and unconstitutional AKT" is deleted from the state's ST list will worsen ethnic tensions.
"... Complete deletion of AKT must also precede the National Register of Citizens (NRC); otherwise, the exercise [census] will not yield its intended outcome," the Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM), Thadou Students' Association (TSA), and Thadou Community International (TCI) said in the joint statement.
"The continued inclusion of AKT, inserted in 2003 for overt political considerations, constitutes a grave and deliberate administrative failure. It has operated as a systemic loophole through which illegal immigrants and non-indigenous outsiders unlawfully obtain residency, constitutional entitlements, and Scheduled Tribe status in Manipur," the Thadou tribe organisations said.
"Conducting a census without first correcting this distortion will irreversibly compromise the demographic integrity of the state, violate the rights of indigenous peoples, and pose a direct threat to national security," they said.
In 1956, parliament removed the 'Any Kuki Tribes' category from Manipur's list and cleared the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act. In 2002, or 46 years later, the then Manipur Congress government's request to the central government to bring back 'Any Kuki Tribes' category in the ST list sailed through parliament, and 'Any Kuki Tribes' re-entered the border state's ST list a year later.
No information is available on the current status of the proposal to remove AKT from the ST list made to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs by the then Manipur government under former chief minister N Biren Singh.
"The government of Manipur has formally proposed, through cabinet decisions (2018, 2023 and 2024) and communications to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the deletion of 'Any Kuki tribes' from the Scheduled Tribes list of Manipur, per approved modalities. The proposal awaits views from the Registrar General of India," the Thadou tribe organisations said.
They said any delay in processing this proposal amid the ongoing law-and-order crisis in Manipur's hill districts, risks coercion by Kuki insurgent groups during the census exercise, "leading to misclassification under the erroneous 'Any Kuki tribes' entry..."
'Any Kuki Tribes' as mentioned in neighbouring Assam's ST list is different from how it is mentioned in Manipur's list. In Assam, all the sub-tribes are listed under one heading called 'Any Kuki Tribes'. The ST certificate is issued only in the name of any of the sub-tribes and not 'Any Kuki Tribes', which is an umbrella term.
In Manipur, 'Any Kuki Tribes' is mentioned as a separate, distinct tribe like Thadou and not as an umbrella term, and the ST certificate is also issued under 'Any Kuki Tribes'.
One of the first tasks that the new government in Manipur, whenever it is formed, will take up is the pending matter over the AKT controversy, sources said.
The Manipur government in its communication to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on July 25, 2024 said, "What has now transpired is that with insertion of the group namely 'Any Kuki Tribe', illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries who have entered Manipur have been facilitated to enlist themselves as 'Any Kuki Tribe' and also obtain Indian citizenship. This has helped illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh to enter India via Manipur in an organised manner while also curtailing or depriving the rights of genuine recognised Scheduled Tribes of the state of Manipur from accessing various benefits meant for the ST communities."
The Thadou tribe organisations in their latest joint statement alleged that a free, fair, and credible census is categorically impossible if AKT is not removed from Manipur's ST list.
"Under prevailing conditions where Kuki armed militants exercise parallel government-like authority and coercive control over extensive areas inhabited by non-Kuki indigenous tribes, particularly the Thadou but also others such as Aimol, Vaiphei, Paite, Gangte, Simte, Kom, and Zou, a free, fair, and credible census is categorically impossible.
"Census officials and community members alike will be exposed to intimidation, coercion, and forced misclassification under 'Any Kuki tribes'. Any post-enumeration correction would be illusory, impractical, and administratively unworkable," the Thadou organisations said, adding they have been consistently and forcefully opposing the inclusion of 'Kuki' or 'Any Kuki tribes' in Manipur's ST list for decades.
They said they have been warning since the 1970s that AKT's inclusion in the ST list "would inevitably result in instability and bloodshed."
"These warnings were systematically ignored in favour of political appeasement of Kuki groups. The present crisis stands as a direct indictment of those policy failures," the Thadou Inpi Manipur said.
