Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM), along with the Thadou Students’ Association (TSA) and Thadou Community International (TCI), on January 17, 2026 demanded the immediate suspension of any census exercise in Manipur until the controversial entry “Any Kuki tribes” (AKT) is fully and permanently deleted from the Scheduled Tribes list of the state.
In a media release issued from Imphal, the organisations said proceeding with the census before the removal of AKT would be “reckless, irresponsible and inherently dangerous,” warning that it could aggravate ethnic tensions and potentially push the state back into large-scale conflict. They asserted that the deletion of AKT must precede not only the census but also the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur.
The Thadou bodies alleged that the inclusion of “Any Kuki tribes” in 2003, which they described as politically motivated, has functioned as an administrative loophole enabling illegal migrants and non-indigenous groups to obtain residency, constitutional entitlements and Scheduled Tribe status in Manipur. Conducting a census without rectifying this, they argued, would permanently distort demographic data, undermine the rights of indigenous communities and pose a threat to national security.
Referring to past census data, the organisations pointed out that the 2011 Census recorded a Kuki population of 28,342 for the first time after the AKT entry was introduced. They claimed these figures were never subjected to rigorous verification and warned that another census would amount to state-sanctioned legitimisation of “unverified and potentially illegal populations,” contaminating public policy for generations.
TIM stated that the Manipur government has already proposed the deletion of “Any Kuki tribes” through Cabinet decisions taken in 2018, 2023 and 2024, and has communicated the proposal to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. According to the release, the proposal has been approved in principle and is awaiting the views of the Registrar General of India. Any further delay, the organisations said, amid the ongoing law-and-order crisis in the hill districts, risks coercion and misclassification during census operations.
The release also raised concerns about the prevailing security situation, alleging that armed Kuki militant groups exercise “parallel-government-like authority” in certain areas. Under such conditions, it said, a free, fair and credible census is “categorically impossible,” as census officials and community members would be vulnerable to intimidation and forced identification under the “Any Kuki tribes” category.
The Thadou bodies accused Kuki militant organisations, including those under Suspension of Operations (SoO) and non-SoO arrangements, as well as affiliated civil organisations, of pursuing the erasure of indigenous identities – particularly that of the Thadou – through coercion and forced subsumption under the “Kuki” label.
They also cited a public meeting held in Churachandpur on April 22, 2023, during which, they alleged, Kuki leaders openly articulated ambitions to make AKT the most populous tribe in Manipur. The subsequent outbreak of large-scale violence on May 3, 2023, they claimed, was a foreseeable outcome of such mobilisation.
Placing the current crisis in a historical context, the release referred to multiple ethnic conflicts in Manipur since the 1990s, including Kuki–Thadou, Kuki–Naga, Kuki–Zomi and Kuki–Meitei clashes, arguing that expansionist demographic agendas have been a recurring source of instability in the state.
The organisations concluded with what they described as a “final, unequivocal and non-negotiable” call to both the Manipur government and the Government of India to suspend all census-related processes in the state until “Any Kuki tribes” is deleted from the Scheduled Tribes list. Failure to do so, they warned, would make authorities directly accountable for any further breakdown of peace, constitutional order and the rights of indigenous peoples in Manipur.
Reiterating their position, the statement asserted: “Thadou is a distinct ethnic group of people. Thadou is not Kuki, or underneath Kuki, or part of Kuki, but a separate, independent entity from Kuki.”
