From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: A delegation of the ruling MDA led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will meet the Prime Minister later this month over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8.
The delegation will also have a meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh and others during their stay in the national capital for three days.
As widespread protests rock Assam and other northeastern states over the bill, Singh has also decided to convene a meeting of chief ministers of these states later this month.
The meeting will discuss measures to protect the region’s cultural and linguistic identity. Some of the chief ministers and other leaders from the region already had a meeting with central leaders after the passing of the bill in the lower house followed by widespread protests.
The bill seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who entered India before December 31, 2014. It is likely to be tabled in the budget session in the Rajya Sabha.
The bill has sparked several protests across Assam as it negates the 1985 Assam Accord that fixed the cutoff date for migrants from Bangladesh to March 24, 1971.
Recently, former IAS officer MP Bezbaruah and four eminent personalities, who were named by the Centre to head a committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, wrote to the Home Ministry expressing their inability to be part of the panel.
A Home Ministry official said the government was assessing the situation.
All the constituents of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance, including leading partner NPP and even alliance partner BJP had already expressed strong opposition to the controversial bill that might alter the demographic profile of most of the bordering states.
The same sentiment will be conveyed to Narendra Modi, sources said.