Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the government is talking to both communities to restore normalcy in Manipur

Manipur: On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the Meitei and Kuki groups in Manipur, which is a region that has seen violence, are in fact talking to each other to restore calm. Equally, the government has also begun the process of putting up a boundary wall along the border with Myanmar in order to reduce illegal immigration. He further suggested that the Center would, “within no time,” declare the long-awaited national census.

Speaking at a news conference in Delhi, the Home Minister outlined what had been done in the first hundred days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as head of NDA 3.0 above. He was accompanied by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Except for a short incident of violence last week, Shah remarked that peace has largely been restored in Manipur, and it has been the endeavor of the government to establish normalcy in the troubled Northeastern state.

“I am positive that peace, which has lasted for the third day, is going to last and we will be able to contain the situation. Both communities are in regular contact with us. This was a tribal war, and as much as we want to come to an end, as much as we want peace, that peace will not last until the warring sides come to the table and have productive discourses,” Shah noted. “We are in talks with both the Kuki and Meitei groups and have detailed action plans to undertake a number of activities to deal with the situation in Manipur.”

Despite the Centre and the BJP’s Manipur government remaining tightlipped on the second phase of the talks, some senior officials who are in the know have said that members of both groups have been participating in the discussions with the Indian authorities. “In the last two to three months, unstructured interactions have occurred in Delhi, Kolkata, and Guwahati. Naga MLA groups were cooperating with the Indian Intelligence Bureau and the Indian Government quiet negotiator to bring to discussions all competing people away from Manipur. It is still going on,” a senior man in the government of Manipur said without being named.

Shah also pointed out that in the first 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government, work was undertaken to fence the Thailand border with Myanmar, which he said was at the core of this issue. In February, the Center unveiled plans to erect a fence along the complete boundary with Myanmar, which spans 1,643 kilometers.

“So far, 30 kilometers of barrier wall have been put in place. The Center has already made the financial provisions for fencing up the remaining 1500 kilometers,” said Shah. “At the important strategic places we have deployed personnel of CRPF and to stop further penetration, we have stopped the Free Movement Regime between India and Myanmar. From now on, unless anyone has a proper visa, he cannot cross the border.”

The Union Home Minister also spoke of the decade-long overdue decadal census we have to conduct: “For that, we are likely to make an announcement very soon.”

The first round of the census, which was slated to take place in April 2020, was cancelled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since 1881, the Republic of India has held a population census every ten years, the last one having been held in the year 2011. On the question of carrying out a census, which will include a caste system, Shah said, “When we announce the census, all the information pertaining to it will be put out.”

In regard to the responsibilities that were undertaken by the NDA government during the first hundred days of the third term, Shah indicated that within no time the Centre has spent forward projects worth ₹15 lakh crore in a number of fields, including infrastructure and farming, in order to create jobs and improve the domestic and external security of the nation.