GUWAHATI: The North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) has resolved to steadfastly oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2016, and do everything in its power to prevent passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
“While CAB has already been passed by the Lok Sabha, only a determined stand by a united Opposition had prevented the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha during the recently-concluded session of Parliament,” Rajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader, Bhubaneswar Kalita told the media after the committee’s meeting here on Wednesday afternoon.
Kalita said the party would continue to protest against the Bill both inside and outside Parliament in the coming days to ensure that the proposed legislation was scrapped.
“The ruling party should have understood when the Bill first sparked opposition in 2016 itself and gradually thereafter. But it has chosen to ignore the protests and went ahead and passed the Bill in the Lok Sabha for its political gain. Now, all Opposition parties must unite and carry on with their protest against the Bill,” the veteran Congress leader said.
“Any further imposition of force in a bid to pass the Bill should be reciprocated by the opposition parties in equal measure,” he added.
Asked whether CAB will be an issue in the Lok Sabha elections, “Of course the bill will be an issue in the polls as the ruling party is applying force while trying to pass the Bill and going against public opinion. This Bill will only push the region to the doldrums,” Kalita said.
The veteran leader also belittled support for CAB by “some Congress representatives in Barak Valley” as “individual opinions” and not the party’s opinion.
The coordination committee, in a statement, said the NDA government was certain to try and get the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha in the next session, which will be the last sitting before the Lok Sabha elections.
“The attempt to grant Indian citizenship en masse to certain groups based solely on their religion is blatantly communal and, therefore, un-Constitutional. If enacted as law, CAB will nullify Clause 5 of the Assam Accord of 1985, which provides the safeguard of detecting and deporting all illegal migrants of the post-1971 period from Assam, be they Muslims or Hindus. If passed in the Rajya Sabha the CAB will also render the NRC process in Assam absolutely meaningless,” it stated.
“This catastrophe for the people of the Northeast, and Assam in particular, must be averted
at all costs,” it added.
Several party leaders from across the region, including former Meghalaya chief minister, Mukul Sangma, attended the NECCC meeting.
The NECCC further resolved to enlist the help of all members of the Rajya Sabha who are opposed to CAB to prevent the Bill from becoming an Act during the next session of the House of Elders and also convey the danger inherent in the Bill to those members of the Rajya Sabha who may be as yet undecided regarding the issue.