CM dismisses impact of CAA on Meghalaya
SHILLONG, March 12: A day after the Union government notified the rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the North East Students’ Organisation, Khasi Students’ Union, and Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People on Tuesday protested against the move and burnt copies of the CAA rules on fire, even as Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma denied that the CAA would have any effect on Meghalaya.
The coalition of pressure groups staged a brief protest against the action of the BJP-led central government, burning copies of the notification in front of the MBOSE office while holding signs and banners.
NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa stated that instead of the CAA, the central government should have granted the Inner Line Permit to the Northeastern states to safeguard the indigenous tribes.
When asked about their protest despite the Sixth Scheduled areas being exempt from the Act’s provisions, he responded, “The Northeastern states cannot live in isolation and though scheduled areas have been exempted, the majority of the parts of Assam have not been exempt from the Act.”
Jyrwa stated that even the Sixth Schedule is not a foolproof method to stop illegal immigration into the Northeastern states, saying that “if Assam is affected, other Northeastern states would also be affected”.
He made it clear that NESO would meet shortly to plan their next round of nonviolent, democratic protests against the CAA. He also mentioned that a case is still pending before the Supreme Court, and they anticipate receiving justice from the Judiciary in this regard.
On the other hand, the chief minister denied that the CAA would have any effect on Meghalaya because “99.999 percent of Meghalaya falls under the Sixth Scheduled”.
“There is hardly 1 or 2 sq km of Municipal areas and European Ward which are non scheduled areas. It will not have any impact as almost the entire state is exempted from the CAA,” he said while adding that while people are looking at the dot, they are not realizing that 99.999 per cent of the state is already exempted.