NEW DELHI: Late Purno Sangma’s official residence here burst into jubilation as soon as it became known that the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill had virtually lapsed with the adjournment of Rajya Sabha on its last day of the winter session on Wednesday.
Present at the time were leaders of NPP, AGP and others.
Chief Minster Conrad Sangma, who flew into the national capital to try and halt passage of the contentious citizenship bill in Rajya Sabha, was elated after the government failed to table it in Rajya Sabha.
Conrad along with former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, AGP president Atul Bora and working president Keshab Mahanta thanked everyone who opposed the bill in an impromptu but crowded press conference at the residence.
Conrad, however, carefully avoided his earlier threat of snapping ties with the BJP over the issue.
“Ties with the BJP is a political issue which will be decided during the elections and we are now in coalition in Meghalaya and Manipur,” he said.
Speaking to the media, Conrad said, “It is indeed a great and an emotional moment for all the citizens of North East, apart from the country. Even at the political and social platforms, students’ bodies, civil societies and NGOs had stood together to oppose the bill. And today the sentiments of the people especially of the North East have prevailed. The voice of the people has prevailed. It’s a great moment for each one of us,” he said.
Sangma’s NPP, along with other North East-based regional parties, including the AGP, which had already severed ties with the BJP in Assam, had sought support of several political parties to prevent passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The bill, 2016, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to remove hurdles for eligible migrants from six minority groups from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan in getting Indian citizenship.
Later, NESO leader Samujjal Bhattacharya and others also addressed a press conference and condemned the government’s very move to bring the CAB. Congress President Rahul Gandhi also held a press conference and hailed lapse of the CAB.
Technically, the bill is set to lapse on June 3 when the term of the present Lok Sabha expires since it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha which adjourned sine die today. The 17th Lok Sabha has to be constituted before June 3 and the general polls are due this summer.
As per procedure, bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, but bills passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha do.
Sources said the government did not table the bill as part of a “deal” whereby the Opposition allowed passage of bills on which there was consensus, President’s address and the vote-on-account. In return, the government, which is in minority in Rajya Sabha, did not press for passage of CAB and the bill on triple talaq, which will also now lapse on June 3.
Besides the opposition parties, BJP chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur — Pema Khandu and N Biren Singh respectively — party units in Meghalaya and all other states in the region including all allies had also voiced their opposition to the contentious bill.
For the BJP, it was a big slap since Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the bill is an “atonement of the wrong that was done during India’s Partition”. Party president Amit Shah also came in full support of the bill despite opposition.
