Vanishing Hindus of Manipur

Manipur is a Hindu enclave surrounded by Christian population on all sides. Vaishnavaism was made the state religion in 18th century by King "Pamheiba" and it remained as that till the defeat of Manipur by the British in 1891. The Meitei claims descent from Lord Arjuna. Hindu Meitei under the leadership of Maharaja Churachand Singh formed the Nikhil Hindu Manipuri Mahasabha to regulate their religious activities during 1934.

However, recently we are observing huge decline in the Hindu population in Manipur. In just two decades, the Hindus have declined from 70% to 45% of the population. Usually Christians in Manipur have a higher birth rate as compared to the Hindus. But more and more Hindus are converting to Christianity recently.

Demography

According to the 2001 Census, Hindus comprised 45% of the population of Manipur. About 5% of all the Hindus are Loi (Sudra) and a few hundreds are Yathibi (Dalit). The remaining Hindu population comprises of Meitei Kshatriyas and Meitei Brahmins.

Census Data

NFHS-3 Census Report, which was released in 2010, summarizes the pathetic situation of the Hindus in Manipur. On average, a Hindu Manipuri woman is having just 2.35 children in her life (just above the 2.33 needed for population growth). Christian women are having 3.71 children each and Muslim women are having 4.15 children each.

As the Hindu population decreases, terrorist organisations like NSCN are likely to strengthen their hold on the general population and demands for secession are likely to follow. Just look at the case of Nagaland. In 1960s, Jawaharlal Nehru opened up Tripura and Nagaland for Christian missionaries. Tripuris have a long Hindu history and were mostly unsympathetic to Christian conversion, and only a few Kukis and Halam converted there. But in Nagaland, almost 95% of the population converted and now the remaining Hindus, mostly the Dima people are facing forced religious conversions.

Religious tensions are getting more and more visible in Manipur. In 1993, there was a major Hindu vs Muslim riot, in which more than a hundred people were killed. Tensions between Hindus and Christians are also worsening.