SHILLONG, April 5: Incumbent Lok Sabha member from Tura and NPP candidate, Agatha K Sangma on Friday made it clear that she supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Parliament because Meghalaya had been exempted from its provisions.
Despite facing criticism from opposition parties for her stance, Agatha emphasised that she would not have supported the Bill if it included Garo Hills.
She clarified that since the CAA does not apply in Meghalaya, there is no cause for concern.
The Tura MP explained that when the Citizenship Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament in 2019, Meghalaya and other Northeastern states were exempted due to advocacy by then MP and now Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, along with other parliamentarians.
Conrad K Sangma had earlier clarified that the CAA would not impact Meghalaya significantly as only a small portion of the state’s land was excluded from its purview.
According to the CAA, rules of which were notified on March 13, the government will now start granting Indian nationality to non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians — from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014. (PTI)
