New Delhi: As the Narendra Modi government is all set to bring the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in the winter session of the Parliament, opposition parties in the northeast have rolled up their sleeves to protest such move.
NE gears up to oppose Citizenship Bill during winter session
The session will begin on November 18 and end on December 13.
"The proposed bill in the Parliament will amend the definition of illegal migrants, reduction in the number of years or residency period to obtain Indian citizenship through naturalization and to empower central Government to cancel the registration of overseas citizen of India card in case of any violation," sources said.
Taking note of the proposed move of the central government, opposition parties in the northeast have already started opposing such move. Manipur which has been opposing the bill since the beginning, has been witnessing agitation and protest for the last few days. "We are opposing the CAB. We believe this bill will disturb the entire northeast," said sitting Congress MLA from Manipur Meghachandra Singh to ETV Bharat.
Singh and 14 others sitting Congress MLAs along with former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh have come to Delhi to register their protest against CAM.
"Our state shares its border with Bangladesh and Myanmar. We have a very little population of 28 lakhs and if they minority Hindus from Bangladesh and Pakistan are allowed to enter and given the Indian citizenship, then we will become a minority in our own state," said Singh.
He said that Congress will approach all other like-minded parties to join in their movement in opposing the bill."We will meet leaders of TMC, CPI, CPM, DMK, SP and all other secular parties to come together against the bill," said Chandra.
Sources in the BJP, however, said that the party will try to convince all other parties to support the bill. In the 16th Lok Sabha, the BJP government had passed the bill in the House after it was introduced by the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The bill subsequently lapsed as it did not get the nod from Rajya Sabha.
The government will need to table a fresh version of the CAB in the winter session of the Parliament. The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 and grant citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afganistan who have illegally migrated into India.
The immigrants must have resided in India in the last one year and for at least six years in total to qualify for citizenship.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has openly raised his voice against the bill, although his counterparts in BJP ruled Assam, Tripura, Manipur was mum on the issue. Several students and other organisations in the Northeast have also raised their voices against CAB.
