Amidst the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday night posted a thread on social media platform X, along with a video, which claimed that there had been “unnatural growth” in the population of “Chin-Kuki-Zo” tribes in the State. Mr. Singh said this was a threat to “indigenous people and national security”.
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The CM compared the deportation of illegal immigrants by his government and the Ministry of Home Affairs with the Rishi Sunak-led U.K. government’s “unyielding commitment” to do the same, questioning “certain sections of people” for calling his government “communal” when it was only “asserting” itself on the issue as the British PM did.
The remarks came just as the State witnessed a fresh spate of violence in the past 72 hours, during which unidentified militants attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Bishnupur district, killing two security personnel, and gunfighting along the buffer zone between Kangpokpi and Imphal West districts led to the killing of one more person, identified as a village defence volunteer.
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The conflict that began on May 3, 2023 has killed over 220 people so far, with thousands injured and tens of thousands internally displaced.
Mr. Singh went on to claim that there had been an “unnatural” growth in the number of new villages, with the video alluding to such growth spurts in a number of villages in Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Kamjong, and Chandel, with graphs and tables showing Census data with the text: “Unprecedented population surge in Chin Kuki Zo”.
This is a claim that Mr. Singh has often repeated since the ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meiteis began, for which he has consistently blamed “illegal immigration” from Myanmar. In Monday’s post, he claimed 996 such new villages had come up due to illegal immigration.
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The Kuki-Zo people in Manipur have maintained that the increase in the number of villages had been due to customary requirements.
In the social media post, Mr. Singh claimed that there was a massive influx of illegal immigrants from 2006 onwards, alleging that they had destroyed forest cover to build their new settlements and grow poppy.
“Not to mention, these illegal immigrants have started encroaching on the resources, job opportunities, land, and the rights of indigenous people,” the CM said, adding, “We have started collecting biometric data of the illegal immigrants as well as geotagging of their settlements. I appeal to everyone in the country to support the government in keeping our nation safe and secure from illegal immigrants.”
“When the British Prime Minister recently asserted their unyielding commitment to deporting illegal immigrants and even claimed that no foreign court could stop them, nobody dared to question the British government. Now, when the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government of Manipur adopt a similar stance and initiate the deportation of illegal immigrants from Manipur, certain sections of people are losing their sleep. They have been persistently spreading false propaganda to portray the Government of Manipur as a communal government,” Mr. Singh said.