SHILLONG: Coming down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its planned move to reintroduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organization (CoMSO) on Thursday accused the party of making a covert attempt to promote the Hindutva agenda in the country.
Reiterating its opposition to the CAB, the CoMSO, a part of the North East Forum of Indigenous People (NEFIP), held a sit-in protest at the Additional Secretariat parking lot here.
Speaking to reporters, CoMSO chairman Robertjune Kharjahrin argued that the BJP’s contention that CAB is meant to protect the minority communities, especially Hindus residing in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, is actually a grand design to transform India into a ‘Hindutva country’.
He dismissed the BJP’s contention of religious persecution of minorities in the three countries as the reason behind implementation of the CAB. He asserted that there was no issue of religious persecution but only economic crisis in those countries.
He added that the BJP will enjoy a position of comfort by bringing in necessary vote bank through CAB which will allow the party to change the “Secular” fabric of the country as enshrined in the Constitution.
“Most of the illegal immigrants who enter India are economic immigrants. There is economic crisis in those countries. The people of North East and Meghalaya find CAB to be unacceptable as it is against the spirit of the Constitution,” he said, adding that the BJP has ulterior motives with regard to their move to revive CAB.
He cited the case of the European Union (EU) which had written to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan warning that it would suspend all subsidies and impose sanctions after there were concerns of persecution of the minority communities in Pakistan.
“If the EU can pressurise Pakistan and stop trade with the country, then why is it hard for India to act the same with Bangladesh and other countries? India can stop sending foreign aid to Bangladesh and it can also impose sanctions. Why did India not approach the United Nations?” he said.
Referring to Shah’s statement that CAB will have no effect on Article 371, the Sixth Schedule, Inner Line Permit (ILP) and other state laws, Kharjahrin said that the existing laws will have to undergo change if ‘outsiders’ legislate laws for the indigenous communities.
He feared that outsiders will outnumber the indigenous people if CAB is implemented and the indigenous communities will not feel safe.
“CAB is one way to achieve the plans of the BJP. It will affect trade, customs, it is a plague that will sweep over the identity of the indigenous people,” he said.
While appealing to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to voice his opposition to CAB, Kharjahrin stated that they will continue their agitation and further intensify it to ensure non-implementation of CAB.
