Manipur CM appeals against NRC-related shutdown
Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh has urged civil society groups to abandon plans for a state-wide shutdown over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process. While the government supports updating the NRC, it insists that blockades are not a democratic solution to the ongoing tensions between ethnic communities regarding immigration and census procedures.
Why it matters
The conflict highlights deep-seated ethnic tensions in Manipur and the challenges of balancing national administrative exercises like the Census with local demands for immigration control.
Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Sunday (August 30, 2026) said he favoured updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the State, but insisted that shutdowns and blockades were not the way to seek the exercise.
The Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation, an umbrella group of 14 civil society organisations, threatened a 24-hour shutdown from midnight on August 31 if the Centre did not defer the Census exercise and start the NRC process in the State. The group also said it would time its next phase of agitation with the Manipur Assembly session beginning September 2.
The Meitei and Naga communities want the NRC to be updated before the Census is undertaken to weed out “illegal immigrants”, specifically people from across Myanmar. The Kuki-Zo groups are against the NRC, arguing that using 1951 as its base year would be unfair to the hill tribes.
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