Poppy cultivation in the hills of Manipur has been declining in recent years
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has doubled down on the state government's claim that a major factor behind the ethnic crisis in the border state was the "massive influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar".
Mr Singh said at least 996 villages have mushroomed across Manipur since 2006, and attributed what he called the "unnatural growth" to illegal immigrants settling down after scattering all over the unsurveyed hill areas of the state.
"Will anyone accept the unnatural growth of new villages and population, causing massive changes to the demography in their own state or country due to the influx of illegal immigrants?" Mr Singh said in a post on the microblogging website X.
"We're confronting a serious issue within our nation, especially in Manipur, where several new villages have emerged due to a huge influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar since 2006 till date. During this period, massive forest cover has been destroyed to establish settlements as well as carry out poppy plantations," said the Chief Minister from the BJP who won his second consecutive term in March 2022.
On why the government chose to look at the influx of illegal immigrants from 2006, an official who has direct knowledge of the matter and access to the relevant departmental records told NDTV: "The stronger Nagas led by the NSCN had driven away the Kukis from border areas to Myanmar in the long ethnic conflict between them from the early 1990s till around the end of that decade. A large number of Kukis regrouped in Myanmar's border region with the help of Myanmar-based insurgent groups -- they share ethnic ties -- from the year 2000 onwards, and along with them came a huge influx of illegal immigrants.
"It is no surprise that the 2001 Census for Manipur was never finalised because there was abnormal decadal population growth as high as 169 per cent. It had become impossible to do a proper survey. From 2001 onwards, the illegal immigrants gradually dissolved into new settlements and villages in pockets across Manipur. You don't make a village overnight. It takes time, men, and material. So till 2006 they were busy with this aspect. The government eventually saw the problem and decided to start the count of such new settlements from 2006."
The hill-dominant Kuki-Zo tribes hold the Chief Minister, who belongs to the valley-dominant Meitei community, responsible for the outbreak of the ethnic clashes in May 2023 that left 210 dead and thousands internally displaced.
Mr Singh has refuted the allegations, and pointed at the destruction of opium poppy cultivation and clearing of illegal immigrants from forest areas as the chief reasons behind the crisis. The total area of opium poppy cultivation declined 60 per cent since 2021, data from the autonomous government institution Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre shows.
"Not to mention, these illegal immigrants have started encroaching on the resources, job opportunities, land, and the rights of indigenous people. 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," Mr Singh said.
"When the British Prime Minister recently asserted their unyielding commitment to deporting illegal immigrants and even claimed that no foreign court can stop them, nobody dared to question the British government," the Chief Minister said, referring to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill 2023, the UK government's latest attempt to deport asylum seekers to the east African country as part of efforts to cut irregular immigration, after previous attempts were ruled illegal.
"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.
The ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo tribes began over cataclysmic disagreements on sharing land, resources, affirmative action policies, and political representation, mainly with the 'general' category Meiteis seeking to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category. A top factor the state government says led to the crisis was its 'war on drugs' campaign.
"The slow but steady decline in opium cultivation due to the 'war on drugs' campaign would have been a kick in the gut of powerful drug cartels. The Kuki insurgents, too, have been demanding a separate land for a long time. It was a dangerous combination," a senior officer in the Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) said, requesting anonymity. "The idea of a separate administration did not just fall from a tree after May 2023. The idea was always there," the officer added.
The Chief Minister in the post on X also included an over two-minute-long video presentation explaining in brief what Mr Singh claimed was the root cause of the Manipur crisis.
"Illegal immigrants have been entering Manipur since 1967," the presentation reads as it starts playing.
It shows a letter written by Henkhosei Haokip and Shochung Haokip, two senior members of the Burma Kuki Refugees Association Manipur, to the then Relief and Rehabilitation Minister in February 1973 seeking a loan to rehabilitate 1,500 Kuki families who came from Myanmar (formerly Burma). The two asked the Centre to give a "special sanction as a relief grant and loan to the Kuki refugees during the current financial year."
The video also shows satellite imagery of how since 2006 forest cover has declined due to new settlements in Churachandpur, Tengnoupal, Kangpokpi, Pherzwal and Chandel districts.
"Due to the Myanmar coup and civil war, a significant number of immigrants from Myanmar are entering Indian border villages. To address national security concerns, a cabinet sub-committee led by minister Letpao Haokip with committee members minister Awangbow Newmai and minister Thounaojam Basanta (was set up)," the Manipur government said in the video presentation.
The initial findings of the first phase of the identification exercise as of April 24, 2023 - violence broke out the next month - found the data below. The government says the total would be significantly high as this was only the first phase of the exercise.
- 1,147 Myanmar immigrants in Tengnoupal (13 villages)
- 881 Myanmar immigrants in Chandel (3 villages)
- 154 Myanmar immigrants in Churachandpur (1 village)
- 5 Myanmar immigrants in Kamjong (24 villages)
"It was observed that the illegal Myanmari immigrants established their own villages in the first phase of the exercise," the government said in the presentation.
"There was a major objection by the immigrant establishment here to such an identification exercise. The new villages were strongly opposed to the advised proposal of shelter homes to be built by the government for them... The total immigrant population in Manipur must be significantly higher considering the number of immigrants revealed in just the first phase of the identification exercise," the government said in the presentation.
The infiltration and influx pose challenges to social cohesion and harmony, potentially fuelling resentment and conflict among different communities, the government said. It said strengthening border security, enhancing surveillance, and capacity-building measures essential to prevent unauthorised entry and curb illicit activities have already started.
"As the issue continues to garner attention and concern, it is imperative to examine the root causes, consequences, and potential solutions," the government said in the presentation.