SHILLONG: As the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which seeks to recognise all Hindu Bangladeshis as Indian citizens, have created havoc in the North Eastern states with people protesting against it and several NGOs opposing the Bill, Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has asked the Central Govern-ment to understand the gravity of the sentiments of the North Eastern people.
Speaking to media persons during an inter-active session here on Thu-rsday on the occa-sion of Republic Day, Sangma said that people in the North East have articulated their sentiments since the population of the tribals is not much and this is the reason that there were several contentious issues which rocked the North Eastern states like Inner Line Permit (ILP) and others.
“Pushes and bulldozing does not work in democracy and when people of North East will see that they are being pushed, there will be reaction which is not good for the nation,” he said. He added that North East is important from the perspective of understanding the complexity of huge diversity of the nation.
“You see what is happening in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, he said, adding that the sentiments of North Eastern people should not be taken as voice in isolation and the centre must understand it.
Earlier, the North East Students’ Organisation and other organisations had opposed the proposed Bill. The decision to oppose such a move by the union government was taken at its emergency meeting held at Guwahati recently.
