SHILLONG: Chairman of North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), Samuel Jyrwa has said Government of India is using the North Eastern states as buffer zone with China, Burma and Bangladesh on the other side.
He was speaking at the rally cum public meeting organised by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU). He called upon the people of the state to stay united in their opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2016.
With a banner stating, “People of Meghalaya opposes the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016,” the union members raised anti-CAB slogans as they marched from union’s office till the Parking lot, Motphran.
Further, he said the Indian government was interested in extracting minerals from North East such as oil from Assam, uranium from Meghalaya.
Leader of KSU, Lambokstarwell Marngar reiterated the slogan, “Khasi by blood, Indian by force.” He called upon the union members to be ready if the Rajya Sabha passes the Bill.
Threatening a probable bloodbath in the North East, he said the Center should scrap the CAB.
At the meeting, he also spoke about the recent appointment of Pawan Sharma and Vijay Raj to government posts. The union termed the two as enemies of the tribal community.
He criticised the state government for adopting double standard – though it opposes the CAB yet the appointment of the two speaks otherwise.
“The state government should immediately remove them. If not, the union will resort to another course of action. If nothing is done to remove them, those who have appointed them will take the responsibility if any untoward incident takes place,” Marngar said.
According to him, if the state government sees no one is fit to take over the post from amongst the politicians, then the government can approach the employment exchange to look out for unemployed youth.
Referring to the comment of a social activist from Assam who said North East will for separation from India if India forcefully passes the CAB in Rajya Sabha.
Echoing the view of the social activists from Assam, he said, “If the Indian government does not respect the identity of minority tribals, it is better for India to declare Meghalaya and other Northeastern states to no longer fall under the administration of Hindustan government.”
Leader of Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF), Sadon Blah said CAB was a bill which seeks to persecute the minority community and not grant citizenship to religious minorities from neighbouring countries who are all set to arrive in India.
“We should outrightly oppose the bill and not seek any sort of exemption. It is an effort to fulfill the concept of Hindustan,” he remarked.
He said further, “If India is so generous toward others, it should draw the attention of the United Nations Organization and other countries of the world about the rogue states and terrorist states if there are religious persecutions in these countries.”
Garo Students’ Union (GSU) president Tengsak Momin said the Bill was meant for persecution of the North East people. “It would wipe out the North East people which is genocide,” he said.
FKJGP president, Wellbirth Rani said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was followed by the CAB as the BJP felt they are losing out on their vote bank.
President of Synjuk Seng Samla Shnong, Ricky Pathaw said the representatives were not serious with CAB and asserted that the people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan should be sent to mainland India instead.