Decode Politics: Why Manipur CM is calling for deporting post-1961 settlers, raising NRC pitch

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s recent statement that his government will “identify and deport” anyone who entered the state to settle after 1961 has come amid demographic concerns in some sections in the state. The Biren Singh-led BJP government has repeatedly linked the ongoing ethnic strife in the state to “uncontrolled illegal immigration” from the neighbouring country Myanmar.

With the ethnic conflict between Meiteis and Kuki-Zomis raging in Manipur since May last year, the issue of “illegal immigration” across the Indo-Myanmar border has taken centre-stage in the state. The Biren government as well as a major section of the Meitei community have alleged that “large-scale illegal immigration” of the Chin people from Myanmar – who have the same ethnicity as Kuki-Zomis – into Manipur over the years has “disturbed” the “demographic balance” in the state, leading to the current volatile situation.

This month, the BJP-ruled central government has made two announcements which are in line with the Biren government’s demand to check this purported influx of immigrants. One, the Centre has proposed to construct a fence along the entire 1,643-km-long Indo-Myanmar border. And, secondly, it has decided to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar.

CM Biren has also been pressing for the implementation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state.

Speaking at an event in Manipur on Monday, the CM described the ongoing ethnic crisis as “a question of existence, identity and survival” for the state.

“The present generation is bearing the brunt of the failure of some visionless politicians and leaders. These leaders have altered the course of Manipur’s glorious past. Accordingly, the present