SHILLONG, April 9: The NPP which has become a punching bag for its political rivals over a five-year-old issue when its incumbent Lok Sabha member from Tura, Agatha Sangma had supported the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (now an Act) has stoutly defended the MP’s action, claiming that she had given her nod only after it was made amply clear that the Sixth Scheduled areas of Meghalaya was exempted from its purview.
NPP state president and Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday said it was necessary to understand why CAA is not implemented in Meghalaya except for around 2.5 per cent of the areas which is non-scheduled.
“Who got the exemption for Meghalaya? It was not VPP who did that; it was the NPP national president Conrad K Sangma who took the initiative among the Northeastern states. I was there. We went to Delhi together and sought appointments with the Union Home Minister as well as the Prime Minister,” Tynsong stated.
“The Home Minister said that since there is a lot of opposition, we respect the sentiments and let me assure you that since Meghalaya has three district councils, the areas falling under the three district councils will be exempted from CAA. And it happened,” Tynsong said.
