SHILLONG: Deputy Chief Whip and BJP MLA, Sanbor Shullai on Tuesday dashed a letter to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind through Meghalaya Governor, Tathagata Roy asking him to exempt Meghalaya from the purview of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) under the provisions of Article 244 of the Constitution.
The memorandum submitted by Shullai said that under the special provisions of the Para a 12 A (b) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the President may with respect to any Act of the Parliament by notification direct that it shall not apply to an autonomous district or an autonomous region in the state of Meghalaya
He also said that the state can also be exempted from the Bill since Scheduled areas can be exempted on the basis of reservation of such states under the provisions of 95th amendment of the 2009 Act which provides entire Meghalaya under the reservation of schedule tribe as both the seats are reserved for schedule tribe and the influx of immigrants may change the vary purpose of schedule areas which is done to preserve the identity of minority tribes in India.
Earlier, Shullai said that the issues concerning to the CAB and its implementation in the North Eastern states needs to be examined thoroughly.
He stated that the issue concerning illegal migrants in North Eastern states cannot be identified on the basis of religion as there is large scale influx from Bangladesh in search of jobs rather than religious persecution which is the prime motive for grant of citizenship as stated in the Bill.
Stating that the Central Government can consult different stakeholders on the Bill, he added that the Inner Line permit (ILP) can also be introduced in the entire North Eastern states for once and all to solve the problem of influx.