For decades, Manipur has sat upon a landmine that no government, state or centre, has dared to defuse: the question of National Registration of Citizenship and the presence of illegal immigrants and refugees being absorbed as citizens.
The absence of basic regulation and mechanism has created an existential issue. Those who entered without law have, over time, accessed benefits of the State and Centre. They have set up villages, districts, subdivisions, and have contested and won constituencies within Article 371C areas. What began as migration has become settlement. What began as settlement has become political assertion.
This is not about animosity toward any people. This is about law, land, and the right of indigenous communities to exist with dignity in their ancestral homeland. For the Nagas of Manipur, this moment demands strategic clarity, not emotional reaction. It demands diplomacy, not despair. It demands unity, not fragmentation.
Stewardship of land, people
Scripture declares: _”When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan” [Proverbs 29:2]. And again: _”A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” [Proverbs 13:22].
The Naga people are covenant people. Our land was not allotted by policy. It was entrusted by God and defended by the blood of our fathers. To be silent while records are distorted, while villages are multiplied without recognition, while demographics are altered, is to fail that stewardship.
Morally, we must distinguish between humanitarian refuge and citizenship. We must distinguish between compassion and compromise. A nation that cannot define its citizens cannot protect its future.
The strategic reality
Factually and logically, the present situation presents three interlocking challenges:
1. The Demographic and Administrative Challenge
The report of 926 unauthorised, unrecognised Kuki villages in the hill areas of Manipur is not merely a statistic. It is a reflection of decades of administrative absence. Within Article 371C areas, new villages, new districts, new subdivisions, and new electoral constituencies have been created without proper verification of citizenship. This directly impacts representation, land use, and resource allocation for Nagas and Meiteis alike.
2. The Security and Policy Challenge: SoO
With the Suspension of Operations agreement operational with the Kuki militants, there is a structural obstruction to policy and administration. Kuki cadres under SoO, stationed with the knowledge of Central security forces and Assam Rifles in compact areas, possess the ability to influence ground administration. This arrangement has made thorough scrutiny of illegal Kuki immigrants and illegal settlements extremely difficult. Any policy that seeks verification is met with resistance, and the arrangement itself becomes a shield against accountability.
3. The Political Objective
Critically and insightfully, the key demand for Separate Administration by the Kukis must be understood in context. While presented as political, its functional effect is to create a zone free from scrutiny of immigration, settlement, and land records in Article 371C areas. By securing compact geography and administrative autonomy, the primary target of demographic consolidation and de-facto citizenship is achieved. The political demand becomes secondary to the demographic fact on the ground.
This is complex. This has been built over decades. There is no easy solution. But complexity is not an excuse for inaction.
The Naga imperative
Retrospectively, the Naga political movement has often been forced into “lump sum” negotiations where everything is clubbed together and nothing is secured on the ground. This approach has self-suicidal consequences for the Nagas of Manipur. We cannot wait eighty years for a final solution while our villages, our roads, and our representation are altered today.
Therefore, the Nagas in Manipur must adopt strategic politics and diplomacy for the changing times. Pragmatism and relevant agenda must guide us.
What must be the political target for a sustainable peaceful roadmap?
1. Naga Unity Above Electoral Division
We must move beyond cabinet posts, contract work, and donation politics. Vested interest must give way to collective interest. Naga unity is not uniformity of opinion. It is unity of purpose: to protect the people, the land, and the identity. One sovereign Naga nation in spirit and aspiration must be our guiding light, even while we engage with the present constitutional framework.
2. Legal and Administrative Assertion
Aggressively and lawfully, we must demand:
– NRC update in Manipur before Census.
– Verification of all villages, especially the 926 unauthorised Kuki villages.
– Freezing of creation of new administrative units until citizenship is verified.
– Protection of Naga ancestral land and jurisdiction within Article 371C.
3. Diplomatic Engagement, Not Isolation
Intelligently and prudently, Nagas must build strategic alliances with all stakeholders who seek law and order — including the Meiteis on issues of citizenship and illegal immigration, and the Government of India on issues of national security. Our diplomacy must be: “We are not against any community. We are for the law.”
4. Social and Moral Rebuilding
The remnant must rise. Churches, CSOs, and village authorities must lead with moral authority. We must educate our youth, document our history, and reject corruption. A people divided by money and posts cannot face external pressure.
Conclusion
To the Nagas of Manipur: the hour is serious. The temptation is to either surrender to cynicism or to explode in anger. Neither will save us.
What will save us is strategic, assertive, and dignified action.
We must be aggressive in defense of law, assertive in negotiation, and compassionate in community. We must be powerful in unity and wise in diplomacy. We must fix what can be fixed today: protect villages, secure records, demand verification, and build unity.
The Naga solution, whenever it comes, must find a people who still have land, who still have unity, and who still have a voice. If we club everything into one lump sum and ignore the ground reality, we risk waking up to find that the ground itself has changed.
May God, who preserved a remnant in Israel, preserve the Naga remnant. May He give us the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of David, and the perseverance of Nehemiah.
Our target is clear: A sustainable, peaceful roadmap for the Nagas of Manipur built on truth, law, unity, and the sovereign recognition of the Naga people.
For the Land. For the People. For the Future.
For if not us, who? And if not now, when?
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Michael Meiphami Shaiza is Co-incharge of BJP Manipur State Political Programmes and Meetings and President of Ukhrul-based NGO Ecological Rehabilitators’ Association (ERA).
(Views expressed are writers’ own and do not, in whatsoever manner, reflect that of Ukhrul Now)
