GUWAHATI: The mounting opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the northeastern states may derail the BJP’s bid to win 21 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the region.
While student bodies in Assam and other northeastern states have intensified their protests against the Bill and vowed to continue it till it was scrapped, the political parties who are constituents of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) have also decided to oppose the Bill.
They are concerned that the implementation of the Bill will threaten the identity of the indigenous communities.
The developments have come at a time when the country is barely two months away from the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP, which had been gradually making its presence felt in the region after the party’s victory in Assam in 2016, is eyeing at least 21 of the total 25 Lok Sabha seats in the eight northeastern states including 11 of the 14 seats in Assam alone.
The BJP has a strong presence in six of the eight northeastern states.
It is in power in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura and is part of the ruling alliances in Meghalaya and Nagaland.
But the party has been facing stiff opposition from the beginning over the Bill. The opposition picked up momentum from January 8 when the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha.
In 2016, the saffron party dethroned the Congress, which had ruled Assam for 15 long years. Riding on a promise of change led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it won 61 of the total 126 Assembly seats and formed a government by joining hands with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF).
Following the success in Assam, the BJP succeeded to put in place a government in Arunachal Pradesh by breaking the Congress.
The euphoria continued as the BJP took power in Manipur and Tripura and became part of the ruling alliance in Nagaland and Meghalaya, stunning the Congress.
The BJP’s prospects in the coming polls may, however, be marred by the growing opposition to the Bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to people of six minority communities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
While the AGP has already distanced itself from the BJP, other allies like the National Peoples’ Party (NPP) in Meghalaya, National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) of Nagaland and Mizo National Front (MNF) have expressed their opposition to the Bill. (IANS)
