NEW DELHI: Members of Parliament from the North East barring those of BJP on Wednesday staged a noisy protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament.
The MPs belonging to both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha demanded that the BJP-led NDA government withdraw the bill instead of trying to pass it in the Rajya Sabha through brute force. In no case the bill will be allowed to be passed or even tabled in the Rajya Sabha where the government is in a minority and when even its allies are not supporting it, they said.
The MPs shouted slogans against the Centre and against the bill. The ruling BJP is doing it for its own political agenda, they shouted.
Talking to media persons during the demonstration, Wansuk Syiem, Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Meghalaya, said that her party in league with other like-minded parties will oppose the bill tooth and nail if it comes at all in the upper House. “The bill is against the entire North East which has 97 per cent of its borders with foreign countries, including Bangladesh,” she said.
“Ever since Independence we have fought against infiltration of foreigners in our land and the BJP government is facilitating them to be citizens based on their religion”, Wansuk said. “A foreigner is a foreigner irrespective of religion,” read her placard.
The bill will alter the already fragile demographic profile of the northeastern states, especially Meghalaya, which has vast and open international border, the MP said while cautioning, “Indigenous people of the hill state will become minority in their own land if the bill is passed and implemented.”
