Thadou bodies demand halt to census in Manipur until deletion of ‘Any Kuki Tribes’ entry

Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM), along with the Thadou Students’ Association (TSA) and Thadou Community International (TCI), has demanded the immediate suspension of any census exercise in Manipur until the deletion of what it termed the “unconstitutional” entry of “Any Kuki Tribes” (AKT) from the Scheduled Tribes list of the state.

In a media release issued on January 17, the organisations representing the Thadou community said proceeding with the census without first removing AKT would be “reckless, irresponsible and inherently dangerous,” warning that it could aggravate ethnic tensions and potentially push Manipur into renewed large-scale conflict. They asserted that the deletion of AKT must precede not only the census but also any National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise, arguing that otherwise the process would fail to achieve its intended objectives.

The statement alleged that the inclusion of AKT in 2003, which it claimed was done for political considerations, has functioned as a systemic loophole enabling illegal immigrants and non-indigenous outsiders to obtain residency, constitutional entitlements and Scheduled Tribe status in Manipur. Conducting a census without rectifying this, the organisations said, would irreversibly compromise the state’s demographic integrity, violate indigenous rights and pose a threat to national security.

Referring to the 2011 Census, the release noted that a Kuki population of 28,342 was recorded for the first time following the inclusion of AKT, and claimed that these figures were never subjected to rigorous verification. Any fresh census before the permanent deletion of AKT, it said, would amount to state-sanctioned legitimisation of unverified and potentially illegal populations, distorting census data and public policy for generations.

The Thadou bodies further stated that the Manipur government has, through Cabinet decisions in 2018, 2023 and 2024, formally proposed the deletion of “Any Kuki Tribes” from the Scheduled Tribes list and communicated the same to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. However, the proposal is still awaiting the views of the Registrar General of India.

They warned that delays in processing the proposal, amid the ongoing law-and-order crisis in Manipur’s hill districts—predominantly Thadou-inhabited areas—could lead to coercion and misclassification during census operations. According to the release, proceeding with the census under President’s Rule without resolving these issues could have serious repercussions for indigenous communities, including the Thadou people.

The statement also claimed that under prevailing conditions, where armed Kuki militant groups allegedly exercise parallel authority in certain areas, a free, fair and credible census is impossible. It alleged that census officials and community members could face intimidation, coercion and forced misclassification under the “Any Kuki Tribes” category, rendering any post-enumeration correction impractical and administratively unworkable.

The Thadou organisations accused Kuki militant groups and affiliated civil bodies of pursuing the erasure of indigenous identities, particularly that of the Thadou, through intimidation and forced subsumption under the “Kuki” label. They reiterated that no census should be conducted in Manipur until the AKT entry is fully and permanently deleted from the Scheduled Tribes list.