NEW DELHI: The voices of dissent against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, are getting louder in the North East, including Meghalaya.
Opposition parties, excluding BJP, in Meghalaya are united in raising objection to the amendment bill. During the Budget session in the Meghalaya Assembly, HSPDP MLA Ardent Basaiawmoit had asked the House whether the Assam government had conducted the National Register Citizens enrolment in areas falling within Meghalaya.
Several pressure groups in the State have also expressed their concerns over the influx of Hindus from Bangladesh, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries.
The apprehensions continue despite Assam Minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma allaying fears by saying that Hindus taking refuge in the country would be settled outside the northeastern region.
Recently, the People’s Right to Information and Development Society of Mizoram (PRISM) of Mizoram and other organisations have also voiced their opposition fearing the move would alter the demographic profile of the North East.
The Aizawl-based group has urged people to raise their voices against the controversial bill. Earlier, other organizations, including the banned ULFA, had opposed the bill.
The Bill seeks to make illegal migrants of certain minority communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship.
“The Bill, if passed, would cause serious demographic crisis in India. It will affect those regions in the northeast which share international border with Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar,” one PRISM statement said.
The Bill relaxes the existing 11-year requirement to six years for persons belonging to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
But critics point out that the Bill makes illegal migrants eligible for citizenship on the basis of religion that may violate Article 14 of the Constitution that guarantees right to equality.