Peace talks on with both Manipur groups: Shah

New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the government is talking to both the Meitei and Kuki communities in strife-torn Manipur to restore normalcy and has begun fencing the country’s border with Myanmar to check infiltration. He also said the Centre will “very soon” make an announcement for carrying out the decadal census in the country.
The home minister was addressing a press conference in Delhi on the achievements of the 100 days of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA 3.0 government. He was accompanied by information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Barring three days of violence last week, the overall situation in Manipur has been calm and the government has been working to restore peace in the restive Northeastern state, Shah said.
“There was peace in the last three days and I am hopeful that we will be able to control the situation. We are holding talks with both communities. It was ethnic violence and unless there is dialogue between the two communities, no solution could be found,” he said. “We are talking to the Kuki and Meitei groups. We have prepared a roadmap to take different initiatives for the situation in Manipur.”
Though the Centre and the BJP-led Manipur government are yet to share details of the talks, top officials aware of the matter said the Centre’s representatives have been holding meetings with legislators from both Meitei and Kuki communities. “In the past two-three months, backdoor meetings have been held in Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati. Naga MLAs representatives are working with the Intelligence Bureau and Centre’s interlocutor to bring the representatives together at neutral places (not in Manipur). The talks are on,” a senior Manipur official said, requesting anonymity.
Shah said in the first 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government, work on fencing the India-Myanmar border, which is the root cause of the problem, has begun. On February 6, the Centre had announced that the entire 1,643-km-long border with Myanmar would be fenced.
“Fencing work in 30 km has been completed. The Centre has already approved the budget for fencing along the over 1,500 km border,” he said. “At strategic locations, we have completed the process of inducting CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel. To stop infiltration, we have also stopped the Free Movement Regime between India and Myanmar. Only those with valid visa can enter or leave the country.”
Since May 3 last year, Manipur has witnessed clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities, which has claimed at least 230 lives so far and uprooted around 50,000 people, many of whom are still residing in relief centres.
The Union home minister also spoke about the much-delayed decadal census of the Indian population, saying: “We will announce it very soon.”
The first phase of this decade’s census was expected to begin in April 2020, but it had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. India has conducted the census every 10 years since 1881, with the last one being conducted in 2011.
When asked about the caste-based census, Shah said: “Whenever we announce the census, all information will be made public.”
Opposition parties have been demanding for a caste-based enumeration in the country — a demand that also found support from key NDA allies such as the Janata Dal (United) and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
Listing the achievements of the NDA government in first 100 days of its third successive term, Shah said the Centre has started work on projects worth ₹15 lakh crore in diverse sectors such as infrastructure and agriculture to create employment opportunities, and taken steps to strengthen the nation’s internal and external security.