SHILLONG, March 14: Raising their voice against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) staged a protest outside the BJP office on Thursday while the Mahila Congress gathered and shouted slogans at Khyndai Lad junction seeking total exemption for Meghalaya.
The MPYC members demonstrated with placards reading: “Meghalaya against CAA” and “We reject CAA”, besides chanting anti-CAA slogans.
MPYC president Adrien Chyne Mylliem said they are aware that the Sixth Schedule areas of Meghalaya have been exempted from the CAA, but they have no faith on the BJP-led government at the Centre.
Citing the abolition of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, he said if the BJP government can do that, they may in the near future abolish the Sixth Schedule in the state to implement the CAA.
In the other protest, over 50 Mahila Congress members marched till Khyndai Lad from the State Congress office at Thana Road and displayed placards expressing their opposition to the implementation of CAA.
State Mahila Congress president Joplin Shylla said that this is just the beginning of their protests and more will follow.
When it was pointed out that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had said that CAA won’t be implemented in 99.99 per cent of areas in the state, she said that they want total exemption for Meghalaya since the BJP-led central government cannot be trusted.
The Meghalaya BJP, however, ruled out any impact of the CAA in the state and asserted that there is nothing to worry since the CAA rules are very clear about its implementation.
Asked if the Act would be applicable in the unscheduled areas of the state, BJP spokesperson Mariahom Kharkrang said, “You will not find even a single persecuted Hindu staying in those areas.”
Asked if this Act was not biased against the Muslim community, he said that by naturalization, any person from any community can apply for Indian citizenship.
“This act is only fast forwarding the process for getting citizenship for those people who have been persecuted in some countries,” he added.
