SHILLONG: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has defended the much opposed Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 saying there is nothing in the act that will be harmful for the nation.
Reacting to a query about the large scale opposition to the bill in the North East and in Meghalaya, he refused to divulge much and only said this is a matter pertaining to the central government and it is their call.
“When the central government will tell me to speaking on this bill, I will speak,” he said.
He, however, said the government will take different NGOs and civil societies of the region on board before taking a final call on the matter.
Deb said the Citizenship Amendment Bill and NRC are yet to reach its logical end and people should wait before the act finally materialised. “If it is good for the country, we will do it and if not we will not,” he said.
Reacting to a query about the large scale of Bangladeshis in Tripura, he said that anybody can say anything and all the chief ministers of the North East are working for the betterment of the region.
It may be mentioned that different NGOs in the region including many in Meghalaya are up in arms against the bill.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill was proposed in the Lok Sabha on July 19, amending the Citizenship Act of 1955.
If this Bill is passed in Parliament, illegal migrants from certain minority communities coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan will then be eligible for Indian citizenship.
In short, illegal migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian religious communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan would not be imprisoned or deported.