Issues related to forest rights, census key to address Manipur situation: Ex-Home Secretary Pillai
Former Home Secretary GK Pillai on Tuesday blamed the Centre and the BJP-ruled state government in Manipur for failing to put an end to the almost two-year long ethnic violence in the state that has claimed the lives of more than 250 persons and led to the displacement of more than 50,000 people there. He lamented the fact that the Union Budget for 2025-26 did not have any allocation for conducting census exercise as it would give a factual picture, which would help in conducting the delimitation exercise in the state.
“Nagaland and Manipur are the only two states that have not had delimitation done. For this, census needs to be done urgently as only then the factual picture will emerge. If there are no facts available regarding the actual population of Manipur, then figures will vary... It will give rise to false narratives and rumour mongering,” Pillai said while addressing a seminar ‘Manipur Ki Baat’.
Signifying the need for discussing issues related to forests and land, the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and census in the troubled state, the former Home Secretary said this would help bridge the trust deficit among the people there, especially between the warring Kukis and Meiteis.
He said the prevailing situation in Manipur clearly showed that the “double engine government” was not really functioning.
Saying that it was the first time that both the communities had clashed with each other in Manipur, Pillai said even a judicial commission formed by the Centre under retired Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba and a special investigation team (SIT) formed by the CBI to probe violence in Manipur had failed to come up with anything concrete.
The judicial commission never gave any report despite extensions given to it, the former Home Secretary said, adding that not even an interim report was submitted by it on the situation in Manipur.
“The people of Manipur have been let down and trust deficit needs to be built... They need to be compensated,” he said.
Former Director General of Assam Rifles Lt Gen Shokin Chauhan, who was among the participants in the discussion, underlined the need to hold political dialogues with stakeholders in Manipur, prevent arms influx there and also called for urgent rehabilitation of victims as well as strict law enforcement, as key measures to resolve the ongoing ethnic strife in Manipur.
