Addressing the meeting of BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance on Monday, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma expressed his fears over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
The Minister told Home Minister Amit Shah to take all the keys stakeholders in the consensus over the decision regarding Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Amit Shah is currently in Guwahati to steer the fourth conclave of North-East Democratic Alliance.
What is North-East Democratic Alliance?
NEDA is a political coalition that was formed on May 24, 2016, by Bharatiya Janata Party. It comprises of many regional political parties of North East India like Naga People’s Front, Sikkim Democratic Front, People’s Party of Arunachal, Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People’s Front.
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill accords Indian citizenship to non-muslim communities like Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis from neighboring nations such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It also dilutes the limit of stay from 12 years to just 7 years. The leaders, therefore, expressed their fears over the implementation of the Act. They are skeptical of the huge influx of migrants from nearby nations thus distorting the demographic structure of the region. The Bill has been passed by Lower House on 8 January but it has not yet been tabled in the Upper house.
Conrad Sangma said, “What will happen after Citizenship Amendment Bill? Will people continuously come from Bangladesh? Will there be any deadline or continuous flow? We in Northeast have such fears.” He also said that since the north-eastern states lie under the 6th schedule of the Indian Constitution, so does that mean that their local laws will be overlooked under the shadow of Citizenship Bill.
On a related note, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga also said that the political parties supporting this bill are on the “verge of suicide“. However, he exuded his confidence in the center for looking into matters and solving their worries. Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio strongly opposed the legislation. He also sought the attention of the Centre towards Naga issue by saying that Nagaland issue is the “mother of all issues in North-East”.
On the previous day, Amit Shah chaired the 68th plenary session of the North-eastern Council meeting held at Guwahati, where he allayed the fears of leaders over the status of Article 371.
Last year, the meeting was held in New Delhi.
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