SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma on Wednesday convened an all-party meeting to discuss about the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Bill and the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule of the constitution.
The meeting was attended by seven political parties.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma said that the Government has asked all the political parties to give their opinions in writing and Government wants to ensure that similar consultations takes place at different levels by inviting groups and NGOs.
Reiterating the Government’s opposition to the CAB, the Chief Minister added that the MHA had finally reached out to the State Government, political parties and NGOs even as he informed that the Union Home Minister had asked him to call all political parties and get their opinions about what are their concerns and issues in the CAB
During the meeting, many of the political parties gave their opinion about the Cut off year for the CAB, about the local laws made by the State Government and the fate of the Sixth Schedule and Residents’ Act.
Stating that Delhi is aware that the State Governments and political parties here are opposing CAB, he added that the Union Government was now asking the concerns and issues as far as CAB was concern which was missing last time when they just introduced the Bill in the Parliament
“The situation is being handled in a different way this time and Union Government and we were hopeful that even representatives from the MHA would come here and seek our opinion and views of the NGOs,” Sangma said.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend a 1955 law to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the Muslim-majority nations of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years.
It had been passed by the previous Lok Sabha but was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha. The bill lapsed after the term of the Lok Sabha ended in May but was not introduced in the Budget Session in July.