Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has hit out at the NDPP-led PDA coalition government in the state for maintaining silence till date against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill– (CAB) while other north eastern states like Meghalaya and Mizoram assemblies have resolved to oppose it.
NTC media cell stated that the Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to provide easy citizenship to minority communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan merely on having six years of residency in India without possessing any proper document.
NTC media cell stated that the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was currently examining the Citizenship Amendment Bill and if it is passed, then it would provide blanket immunity to foreigners at the expense of bona fide citizens of the country.
NTC reminded that it objected to the CAB in the context of pluralism and secularism because the Act is “subjective and communal” and only in the larger interest of a particular religious group.
The council cautioned, that if the Bill is passed by Parliament, then it would have immense ramification and victimise small states like Nagaland because the existing protective laws would not be able to resist the new law, if enacted.
It said sensing the impending danger on the indigenous people, the assemblies of Meghalaya and Mizoram passed resolutions not to accept the CAB.
Also NTC said the CAB is also in total contravention to the Assam Accord of 1985 and that was why even the Assam government was vehemently opposing it. That is why, Joint Parliamentary Committee was contemplating to exempt Assam from the purview of the bill if passed.
As a constitutional exercise, NTC said JPC made study visits to states which protested against the bill in order to hear the voices of the people. The JPC will soon be concluding its study visits and shortly submit the recommendations to Parliament.
With winter session of parliament in December, NTC said there was high possibility of the Bill being passed.
NTC slammed PDA saying it cannot remain “evasive on this crucial issue” that poses immense threat on the existence of people adding the state government should never have soft paddled the issue or maintaining a “watch and see” since passage of the bill would have devastating impact on Nagaland.
NTC has therefore, demanded that the state government immediately register its protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill before the JPC finalises its recommendations.