Imphal: The Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) has called a 48-hour general strike across Manipur from Monday midnight, demanding an update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before the 2027 Census is conducted in the state.JFD organisation secretary Longjam Ratan said essential services and religious ceremonies would be exempt from the shutdown. The organisation said it did not oppose the Census but wanted the exercise deferred until undocumented immigrants were identified and internally displaced persons (IDPs) resettled.Ratan said JFD representatives had conveyed their demands to chief minister, Union home minister and governor. He said the campaign, launched on April 8, 2025, would continue until its demands were addressed.JFD wants an NRC update using 1951 as the base year. It has also threatened to intensify its agitation if Census operations proceed, including by picketing govt offices and resisting training and fieldwork connected with the exercise.The strike call came amid protests at Census training venues in Imphal on Monday. JFD student volunteers attempted to enter the DM College of Teacher Education on the DM University campus, where enumerators and supervisors were undergoing training, according to the organisation.Security personnel stopped them from entering the venue. JFD claimed that two students were injured in baton action by security personnel. Police had not issued a response to the allegation at the time of filing.Later, women protesters associated with JFD entered Rongmei Upper Primary School at Mahabali in Imphal East and disrupted another Census training programme.Women vendors from Khwairamband Ima Keithel also staged a sit-in demanding an NRC update before the Census. Students took out a separate rally and sought the resettlement of people displaced by Manipur’s ethnic conflict before enumeration.Ratan claimed that demands for the identification of undocumented immigrants in Manipur dated to 1980, when a 16-point agreement was reached between the state govt and representatives of an agitation. He said the agreement was reaffirmed in 1994 but alleged that successive central and state govts had failed to act on it.The state govt had announced that houselisting for the 2027 Census would be conducted in Manipur from Sept 1 to 30. According to the announced schedule, self-enumeration is to be available from Aug 17 to 31.
