SHILLONG: The Congress in Meghalaya has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is divided over the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha recently.
Opposition chief whip and Congress MLA, PT Sawkmie, said that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president, Amit Shah, appear determined to go ahead with the bill and are seeking the support of regional parties, the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, is trying to pacify the Northeastern states and the Chief Ministers.
It may be mentioned that apart from Congress and other political parties, the two BJP MLAs, AL Hek and Sanbor Shullai, have also vehemently opposed the bill.
The bill has drawn flak from NGOs, political parties and citizens in the North East.
The bill seeks to provide citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
UDP reacts to Congress on CAB stand
UDP senior working president, Bindo Lanong reacted to the comments made by state Congress leaders for not giving due response to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Addressing media persons on Monday, he said the UDP was the first party to reveal the fallout of the bill referring to the letter of former Assam Governor S K Sinha addressed to the then President K R Narayanan highlighting the illegal immigration into Assam.
Lanong said UDP was part of the delegation to Guwahati in which a meeting of all regional parties chaired by the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma discussed thoroughly on the ill-effects of the bill.
He questioned the BJP’s obsession to implement the bill criticising the party’s move which only serves to increase its vote investment with the arrival of non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“When the issues of Chakmas and Brus have not been settled by the judiciary, why this craze to bring people from other nationality?” Lanong said.
With an eye on the Lok Sabha elections, he observed that the bill was brought by the BJP led central government.
“We strongly oppose and demand that the BJP should drop the idea and withdraw the bill,” he said.
Commenting on Inner Line Permit, Lanong said the ILP is a central legislation and recalled the time when a decision on ILP was taken when he was the Law Minister.
A meeting was convened by then Chief Minister Mukul Sangma with social organisations wherein all were in favour of ILP.
Asked if the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) can adapt the legislation, he said the matter should be referred to the Centre to interpret as the state as no power on the matter.
Stating that the party did not discuss officially on the issue of ILP, on a personal note he said, “With the kind of move that the BJP has taken. We need ILP.”
