SHILLONG: Phulbari NPP MLA S G Estamur Mominin has criticised the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) terming it unconstitutional and communal.
As the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is keen to implement the CAB, Mominin told media persons that if the Bill is to be passed ever in the Parliament, it should also include those communities who have been left out of its purview.
Stating that the bill is unconstitutional and communal and that since the time the country gained Independence there has been no bill in the name of any community, Mominin said that certain communities have been excluded from the purview of the CAB although Article 14 guarantees right to equality.
“If CAB gets through, the very spirit of Article 14 will be defeated,” he said.
Pointing out that Meghalaya has Sixth Schedule according to which no outsiders, even non-tribals of the state, can buy land in the schedule areas, Mominin said, “Since the genuine non-tribals cannot buy land the question of others coming and buying land does not arise”.
It may be mentioned that the Centre has made its intention to reintroduce Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament this month very clear despite there being widespread condemnation of the move in the state and in other parts of the Northeastern region.
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 was 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.